
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
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 ...
, 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
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 ...
, 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).
See also
*
List of Jesuit scientists
*
Josef Dobrovský Monument
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