Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Freytag (19 September 1788 – 16 November 1861) 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 ...

Background

Freytag was born in

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

. He studied philology and

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 the ...

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 from 1811 to 1813 he worked as a theological tutor. In the latter year he accepted an appointment as a sub-librarian at

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

. In 1815 he became a chaplain in the Prussian army, and in that capacity visited

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. On the proclamation of peace (

Treaty of Paris (1815) The Treaty of Paris of 1815, also known as the Second Treaty of Paris, was signed on 20 November 1815 following the defeat and second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba; he entered Paris ...

), Freytag resigned his chaplaincy, and returned to his investigations of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

s, studying at Paris under Silvestre de Sacy. In 1819 he was appointed to the professorship of

oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

at the recently founded

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

,Freytag, Georg Wilhelm
@ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie a post he maintained up until his death in 1861.

Published works

Freytag's principal work was the acclaimed ''Lexicon Arabico-Latinum'' (Halle, 1830–1837), an abridgment of which was published in 1837. The lexicon was an improved and enlarged edition of an earlier work by Jacobus Golius.ADB:Freytag, Georg Wilhelm
@ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Other significant writings by Freytag include: * ''Selecta ex Historia Halebi'', 1819; selections of

Ibn al-Adim Kamāl al-Dīn Abū ʾl-Ḳāsim ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn Hibat Allāh Ibn al-ʿAdīm (1192–1262; ) was an Arab biographer and historian from Aleppo. He is best known for his work ''Bughyat al-Talab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab'' (; ''Everything Desirable a ...

's history of Aleppo. * ''Hamasae Carmina cum Tebrisii scholiis integris'' by

Abu Tammam Ḥabīb ibn Aws al-Ṭā’ī (; ca. 796/807 - 845), better known by his sobriquet Abū Tammām (), was an Arab poet and Muslim convert born to Christian parents. He is best known in literature by his 9th-century compilation of early poems kno ...

, 1828–1852 – edition of Arabic songs (2 volumes). * ''Darstellung der arabischen Verskunst'', 1830 – a treatise on Arabic versification. * ''Kurzgefasste Grammatik der hebräischen Sprache'', 1835 – a compendium of

Hebrew grammar Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved th ...

. * ''Arabum proverbia; vocalibus instruxit, latine vertit'', 1838–1843 – Arabic proverbs (3 volumes). (Translation, original by Meidani, who died 1124Iran: A Chronological History
p. 119) * ''Einleitung in das Studium der arabischen Sprache'', 1861 – Introduction to the study of Arabic language.

References

External links

WorldCat Identities
Most widely held works by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Freytag. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freytag, Georf Wilhelm Friedrich 1788 births 1861 deaths German philologists People from Lüneburg People from the Electorate of Hanover German orientalists German Arabists University of Bonn faculty German military chaplains German male non-fiction writers German librarians