Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
, one of the most important figures of the
Czech National Revival along with
Josef Jungmann.
Life and work
Dobrovský was born at
Balassagyarmat
Balassagyarmat (Hungarian: ; formerly ''Balassa-Gyarmath''; german: Jahrmarkt; sk, Balážske Ďarmoty or ) is a town in northern Hungary. It was the seat of the Nógrád comitatus. Balassagyarmat is the capital city of Palóc country as the pro ...
,
Nógrád County, in the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...
, when his father Jakub Doubravský (1701,
Solnitz (Czech: Solnice),
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
1764,
Bischofteinitz (Czech: Horšovský Týn), Bohemia) was temporarily stationed as a
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' deri ...
there. His mother was Magdalena Dobrovská (1733,
Tschaslawsko (Czech: Čáslavsko), Bohemia 1797).
He received his first education in the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
school at
Horšovský Týn
Horšovský Týn (; german: Bischofteinitz) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reser ...
in Plzeň district, made his first acquaintance with the
Czech language
Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...
and soon made himself fluent in it at the
Německý Brod gymnasium, and then studied for some time under the
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
at
Klatovy. In 1769 he began to study
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
at the
University of Prague. In 1772 he was admitted among the Jesuits at
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
and was preparing for a Christian
mission in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. However, the entire order was dissolved in the Czech lands in 1773 and Dobrovský thus returned to Prague to study
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
.
After holding for some time the office of tutor to Count
Nostitz, he obtained an appointment first as vice-rector, and then as rector, in the general seminary at Hradisko (now part of
Olomouc); but in 1790 he lost his post through the abolition of the seminaries throughout the
Habsburg Empire, and returned as a guest to the house of the count. At this time, he wrote some of the most important works in
Slavic studies
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
,
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...
and
philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
.
In 1792 he was commissioned by the Bohemian Academy of Sciences to visit
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
,
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in search of the manuscripts which had been scattered by the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
, and on his return he accompanied Count
Nostitz to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
In the 1780s Dobrovský participated in the academic life of
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. In 1784, he helped to set up the
Royal Czech Society of Sciences, and in 1818 the
National Museum
A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...
of what was to become
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and eventually the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
However, his reason began to give way in 1795, and in 1801 he had to be confined in a
lunatic asylum, but by 1803 he had completely recovered. The rest of his life was mainly spent either in Prague or at the country seats of his friends Counts
Nostitz and
Czernin, but his death occurred in
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
, where he had gone in 1828 to study in the local libraries.
While his fame rests chiefly on his labours in
Slavonic philology his botanical studies are not without value in the history of the science.
Between 1948 and 1968 Czech poet
Vladimír Holan lived in the so-called "Dobrovský House" on
Kampa, often saying that the ''Blue
Abbé
''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for low ...
'' (a nickname by which Dobrovský was known) would sometimes visit him.
Most important works
* ''Fragmentum Pragense evangelii S. Marci, vulgo autographi'' (1778)
* a periodical for Bohemian and Moravian literature (1780–1787)
* ''Scriptores rerum Bohemicarum'' (2 vols., 1783)
* ''Geschichte der böhm. Sprache und alten Literatur'' (1792)
* ''Die Bildsamkeit der slaw. Sprache'' (1799)
* a ''Deutsch-böhm. Wörterbuch'' compiled in collaboration with Leschk, Puchmayer and Hanka (1802–1821)
* ''Entwurf eines Pflanzensystems nach Zahlen und Verhältnissen'' (1802)
* ''Glagolitica'' (1807)
* ''Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache'' (1809)
* ''Institutiones linguae slavicae dialecti veteris'' (1822)
* ''Entwurf zu einem allgemeinen Etymologikon der slaw. Sprachen'' (1813)
* ''Slowanka zur Kenntnis der slaw. Literatur'' (1814)
* a critical edition of
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...
, ''De rebus Geticis'', for
Pertz's ''
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empir ...
''
See
Palacký, ''J. Dobrowskys Leben und gelehrtes Wirken'' (1833).
See also
*
List of Jesuit scientists
*
Josef Dobrovský Monument
Notes
References
*
External link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobrovsky, Josef
1753 births
1829 deaths
18th-century Bohemian people
19th-century Czech people
18th-century Austrian people
19th-century Austrian people
Czech Roman Catholics
Czech academics
Czech writers in German
Czech philologists
Linguists from the Czech Republic
Czech language activists
Slavists
Czech lexicographers
Historians of the Czech lands
Charles University alumni
Members of the Russian Academy
People from the Kingdom of Hungary
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
People from Balassagyarmat
Writers from Brno
Czech Roman Catholic writers