Karl Wilhelm Göttling (Latin: Carolus Guilielmus Goettling; January 19, 1793 – January 20, 1869) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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 classical scholar.

Biography

He was born in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, the son of

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

Johann Friedrich August Göttling Johann Friedrich August Göttling (5 June 1753 – 1 September 1809) was a notable German chemist. Gottling developed and sold chemical assay kits and studied processes for extracting sugar from beetsGymnasium in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

, and then, beginning in 1811, studied philology at the universities of

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He volunteered in the war against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1814, and after the peace continued his studies at Berlin under Friedrich August Wolf,

August Boeckh August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

and Philipp Buttmann. From 1816, he taught classes at the gymnasium in

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, within the Thuringian Forest, to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide ...

. In 1819 he became director of the

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

gymnasium, and in 1822 was appointed associate professor of philology at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

. At Jena he was also director of the philological seminary (from 1826) and university librarian, and in 1831 attained the title of full professor. He continued to reside in his home town till his death. During his academic career he participated in several study trips to Italy, Sicily, Greece, et al., and in 1852 accompanied Ludwig Preller (1809–1861) and

Hermann Theodor Hettner Hermann Julius Theodor Hettner (March 12, 1821 – May 29, 1882), was a German literary historian and museum director. Biography He was born at Leisersdorf ( Uniejowice), near Goldberg (Złotoryja), in Silesia. At the universities of Berlin, ...

(1821–1882) on a journey to Greece and

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. He died in

, aged 75.

Work

In his early years Göttling devoted himself to German literature, and published two works on the

Nibelungen The term Nibelung ( German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''Nebel'', meaning mist. The ...

: ''Über des Geschichtliche im Nibelungenliede'' (1814) and ''Nibelungen und Gibelinen'' (1817). The greater part of his life, however, was devoted to the study of classical literature, especially the elucidation of Greek authors. The contents of his ''Gesammelte Abhandlungen aus dem klassischen Altertum'' ("Collected treatises on classical antiquity," 2 vols., 1851–1863) and ''Opuscula Academica'' ("Brief academic works," published in 1869 after his death) sufficiently indicate the varied nature of his studies. Among his more important writings were editions of the ''Techne'' (grammatical manual) of Theodosius of Alexandria (''Theodosii Alexandrini grammatica'', 1822),

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's ''Politics'' (1824), and ''Economics'' (1830), as well as editions of the poet

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

(1831; 3rd ed. by J. Flach, 1878). In the field of Greek grammar he published ''Allgemeine Lehre vom Akzent der griechischen Sprache'' (Jena 1835), enlarged from a smaller work, which was translated into English (1831) as the ''Elements of Greek Accentuation''. His smaller works were for the most part combined in ''Gesammelte Abhandlungen aus dem klassischen Altertum'' and ''Opuscula Academica'' (1869). Mention may also be made of his ''Correspondence'' with

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

(published 1880 by Kuno Fischer).

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites: ** Memoir by Carl Nipperdey, his colleague at Jena (1869) ** Memoir by G. Lothholz (Stargard, 1876) ** Memoir by Kuno Fischer in the preface to ''Opuscula Academica'' **

Biography

Work

Notes

References

Further reading