Philipp Karl Buttmann (5 December 1764 – 21 June 1829) was a German

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 as th ...

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

ancestry (original family name "Boudemont"), born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. He was educated in his native town and at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, where he was a student of

Christian Gottlob Heyne Christian Gottlob Heyne (; 25 September 1729 – 14 July 1812) was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library. He was a member of the Göttingen School of History. ...

. In 1789 he obtained an appointment in the

Royal Library of Berlin The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the larg ...

, and for a period of time, edited Spener's ''Journal''. In 1800 he became a professor at the

Joachimsthal Gymnasium The Joachimsthal Gymnasium (German ''Joachimsthalsches'' or ''Joachimsthaler Gymnasium''), was a princely high school (German ''Fürstenschule'') for gifted boys, founded in 1607 in Joachimsthal, Brandenburg. In 1636, during the Thirty Years' War ...

in Berlin, a post he held for eight years. In 1806 he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences as a member of its historical-philological section. In 1811 he became first librarian at the Royal Library.

Published works

Buttmann's writings gave a great impetus to the scientific study of the

Greek language Greek ( el, label=Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Al ...

. His ''Griechische Grammatik'' (1792) went through many editions, and was translated into English.WorldCat Identities
Most widely held works by Ph Buttmann His ''Lexilogus'', a valuable study on some words of difficulty occurring principally in the poems of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, was published in 1818–1825, and was later translated into English and published as ''Lexilogus: or, a critical examination of the meaning and etymology of numerous Greek works and passages intended principally for Homer and Hesiod'' (1861). Buttmann's other works were: * ''Ausfuhrliche griechische Sprachlehre'' (2 vols, 1819–1827). * ''Mythologus'', a collection of essays (1828–1829). * editions of some classical authors, the most important being

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

' ''In Midiam'' (1823). * the continuation of Spalding's edition of

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...

.A History of Classical Philology
by Harry Thurston Peck

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttmann, Philipp Karl 1764 births 1829 deaths Writers from Frankfurt University of Göttingen alumni German philologists German classical scholars German librarians