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

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 species; as well as the ...

, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann.

Life and work

Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat, Nógrád County, in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

, when his father Jakub Doubravský (1701, Solnice – 1764,

Horšovský Týn Horšovský Týn (; ) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reserva ...

) 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, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

there. His mother was Magdalena Dobrovská (1733, Čáslav – 1797). He received his first education in the German school at

, made his first acquaintance with the

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

and soon made himself fluent in it at the Německý Brod gymnasium, and then studied for some time under the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

at Klatovy. In 1769 he began to study

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the University of Prague. In 1772 he was admitted among the Jesuits at

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

and was preparing for a Christian mission in India. However, the entire order was dissolved in the Czech lands in 1773 and Dobrovský thus returned to Prague to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

. 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 Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

); 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 peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

. In 1792 he was commissioned by the Bohemian Academy of Sciences to visit

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in search of the manuscripts which had been scattered by the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, and on his return he accompanied Count Nostitz to Switzerland and Italy. In the 1780s Dobrovský participated in the academic life of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. In 1784, he helped to set up the Royal Czech Society of Sciences, and in 1818 the National Museum of what was to become

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and eventually the Czech Republic. However, his reason began to give way in 1795, and in 1801 he had to be confined in a

lunatic asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

, 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

, where he had gone in 1828 to study in the local libraries.

Legacy

Dobrovský remains a revered figure of Czechoslovak intellectual history. He has been subject also to philosophical analysis, for instance by Milan Machovec (in his 1964 monograph). 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 Vladimír Holan (; September 16, 1905 – March 31, 1980) was a Czechoslovak poet famous for employing obscure language, dark topics and pessimistic views in his poems. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in the late 1960s. Life Holan was bor ...

lived in the so-called "Dobrovský House" on Kampa, often saying that the ''Blue

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin , in turn from Greek , , 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 also the title used for lower-ranki ...

'' (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 (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

, ''De rebus Geticis'', for Pertz's '' Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' See Palacký, ''J. Dobrowskys Leben und gelehrtes Wirken'' (1833).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobrovsky, Josef 1753 births 1829 deaths 18th-century historians from Bohemia 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 Austrian Empire Czech language activists Linguists of Slavic languages Czech lexicographers Czech Finno-Ugrists Historians of the Czech lands Charles University alumni Members of the Russian Academy People from Balassagyarmat Czech Roman Catholic writers 18th-century historians from the Holy Roman Empire

Life and work

Legacy

Most important works

See also

References

External links