Johann Christoph Adelung (8 August 173210 September 1806) was a German

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

and

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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

Biography

He was born at

Spantekow Spantekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It comprises the villages Dennin, Drewelow, Fasanenhof, Janow, Japenzin, Neuendorf B, Rehberg, Rebelow and Spantekow. History Since the Middle ...

, in

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (; ), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania, located mostly in north-eastern Germany, with a small portion in no ...

, then part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

and educated at schools in

Anklam Anklam (), formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the , the western ...

and Berge Monastery,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

, and the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

also all in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1759 he was appointed professor at the gymnasium of

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

, but relinquished this situation two years later and went to reside in a private capacity at

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, where he devoted himself to philological researches. In 1787 he received the appointment of principal librarian to the

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, where he continued to reside until his death in 1806.

Work

The writings of Adelung are voluminous. By means of his excellent grammars, dictionary, and various works on German style, he contributed greatly towards rectifying the orthography, refining the idiom, and fixing the standard of his native tongue. His German dictionary ''Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart'' (1774–1786) bears witness to the patient spirit of investigation which Adelung possessed in so remarkable a degree, and to his intimate knowledge of the different dialects on which modern German is based. Shortly before his death, he issued ''Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde'' (1806). The hint of this work appears to have been taken from a publication with a similar title, published by

Konrad von Gesner Conrad Gessner (; ; 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him t ...

in 1555, but the plan of Adelung was much more extensive. Unfortunately, he did not live to finish what he had undertaken. The first volume, which contains the Asiatic languages, was published immediately after his death; the other two were issued under the superintendence of Johann Severin Vater (1771–1826). Of the very numerous works by Adelung, the following may be noted: ''Directorium diplomaticum'' (Meissen, 1802); ''Deutsche Sprachlehre für Schulen'' (Berlin, 1781), and the periodical, ''Magazin für die deutsche Sprache'' (1782–1784). He believed strongly that the orthography of the written language should match that of the spoken language. He declared, "Write as you speak and read as it is written".

Notes

References

External links

Adelung, J. C., ''Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart''
* ''Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde'' on Google Books
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelung, Johann Christoph 1732 births 1806 deaths 18th-century German scholars People from Vorpommern-Greifswald People from the Province of Pomerania 18th-century German linguists German lexicographers German philologists Grammarians from Germany Linguists of German Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences German male non-fiction writers Kurdologists 18th-century lexicographers