Johann Gottfried Flügel (22 November 1788 – 24 June 1855) was a German

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

Biography

He was born at Barby, near

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

. He started his career as a merchant's clerk. In 1810, he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where he engaged in business, diplomatic and official occupations. He made a special study of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

, and returning to Germany in 1819, was in 1824 appointed lector of the English language in the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. In 1838 he became American consul, and subsequently representative and correspondent of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and several other leading American literary and scientific institutions. In 1853, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. He died at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

on 24 June 1855.

Works

The fame of Flügel rests chiefly on the ''Vollständige englisch-deutsche und deutsch-englische Wörterbuch'', first published in two volumes (Leipzig) in 1830, which has had an extensive circulation not only in Germany but in England and America. In this work he was assisted by J. Sporschil, and a new and enlarged edition, edited by his son Felix Flügel (1820–1904), was published at Brunswick (1890–1892). Another edition, in two volumes, edited by Prof. Immanuel Schmidt and S. Tanger, appeared (Brunswick, London & New York) in 1906. Among his other works are: *''Vollständige engl. Sprachlehre'' (1824–1826) *''Triglotte, oder kaufmännisches Wörterbuch in drei Sprachen, Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch'' (1836–1840) *''Kleines Kaufmännisches Handwörterbuch in drei Sprachen'' (1840) *''Praktisches Handbuch der engl. Handelscorrespondenz'' (1827, 9th ed. 1873) All these have passed through several editions. In addition, Flügel also published in the English language: ''A series of Commercial Letters'' (Leipzig, 1822), a 9th edition of which appeared in 1874 under the title ''Practical Mercantile Correspondence'' and a ''Practical Dictionary of the English and German Languages'' (2 vols, Hamburg and Leipzig, 1847–1852; 15th ed., Leipzig, 1891). The last was continued and re-edited by his son Felix. A very valuable study of the life and works of Flügel is in: Brüning, Eberhard: Das Konsulat der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika zu Leipzig. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Konsuls Dr. J hannG ttfriedFlügel (1839–1855). Berlin: Akademie Verlag 1994 (Sitzungsberichte der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Bd. 134, H. 1).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flugel, Johann Gottfried 1788 births 1855 deaths German lexicographers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century lexicographers