Heymann or Hermann Steinthal (16 May 1823 – 14 March 1899) was a German philologist and philosopher.
He studied philology and philosophy at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
, and was in 1850 appointed ''Privatdozent'' of
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 ...
and mythology at that institution. He was influenced by
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named afte ...
, whose ''Sprachwissenschaftliche Werke'' he edited in 1884. From 1852 to 1855 Steinthal resided in Paris, where he devoted himself to the study of
Chinese, and in 1863 he was appointed assistant professor at the Berlin University; from 1872 he was also ''privat-dozent'' in critical history of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
and in religious philosophy at the
Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums. In 1860 he founded, together with his brother-in-law
Moritz Lazarus, the ''Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft'', in which was established the new science of comparative ('folk') psychology, the
Völkerpsychologie. Steinthal was one of the directors (from 1883) of the , and had charge of the department of religious instruction in various small congregations.
Works
Steinthal's principal works are:
*''Die Sprachwissenschaft W. von Humboldts und die
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
'sche Philosophie'' (Berlin, 1848)
*''Klassifikation der Sprachen, dargestellt als die Entwickelung der Sprachidee'' (ib. 1850), which appeared in 1860 under the title ''Charakteristik der Hauptsächlichre'', edited and enlarged by the author and
Misteli, as the second volume of the ''Abriss der Sprachwissenschaft'' (ib. 1893)
*''Der Ursprung der Sprache im Zusammenhang mit den letzten Fragen alles Wissens'' (ib. 1851, 4th enlarged ed. 1888)
*''Die Entwickelung der Schrift'' (ib. 1852)
*''Grammatik, Logik, Psychologie: Ihre Prinzipien und ihre Verhältniss zu einander'' (ib. 1855)
*''Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft bei den Griechen und Römern'' (ib. 1863, 2d ed. 1889-91)
*''Philologie, Geschichte und Psychologie in ihren gegenseitigen Beziehungen'' (ib. 1864)
*''Die Mande-Negersprachen, psychologisch und phonetisch Betrachtet'' (ib. 1867)
*''Abriss der Sprachwissenschaft'' (vol. I: ''Einleitung in die Psychologie und Sprachwissenschaft'', ib. 1871; 2d ed. 1881)
*''Allgemeine Ethik'' (ib. 1885)
*''Zu Bibel und Religionsphilosophie'' (ib. 1890; new series, 1895), consisting mainly of lectures delivered before the
Gesellschaft der Freunde for the benefit of the
Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums.
The first volume of his ''Gesammelte
Kleine Schriften
' is a German phrase ("short writings" or "minor works"; la, Opuscula) often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These short ...
'' appeared at Berlin in 1880.
References
*Bibliography:
H. S. Morais
Henry Samuel Morais (Philadelphia, May 13, 1860 – New York City, September 21, 1935) was an American writer and rabbi.
Biography
Henry Samuel Morais was born on May 13, 1860 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at private and public scho ...
, ''Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century'', Philadelphia, 1880, pp. 233-335;
*''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon'';
*''Allg. Zeit. des Jud.'', March 17 and 24, 1899;
*''Ost und West'', July, 1903;
*
Th. Achelis, ''Heyman Steinthal'', Hamburg, 1898 (in Holtzendorff-Virchow's ''Sammlung gemeinverständlich-wissenschaftlicher Vorträge'').
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinthal, Heymann
1823 births
1899 deaths
People from Südliches Anhalt
People from Anhalt-Köthen
19th-century German Jews
Linguists from Germany