Johan Nicolai Madvig (; 7 August 1804 – 12 December 1886), was a Danish

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 Kultus Minister.

Life

Madvig was born on the Danish island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

, south of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He was educated at the classical school of Frederiksborg and the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, at least partially on the cost of Marie Kofoed. In 1828 he became reader, and in 1829 professor of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

language and literature at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, and in 1832 was appointed university librarian. In 1848, Madvig entered parliament as a member of the "Eider-Danish" part—those who desired the

Eider The eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and qu ...

to be the boundary of the country. When this party came into power Madvig became Kultus Minister in the Cabinet of Moltke II and III, but left the cabinet on 7 December 1851 as a protest against the government's unity state program. In 1852 he became director of public instruction. Some years later, from 1856 to 1863, Madvig was president of the Danish parliament and leader of the National Liberal Party. With these brief interruptions the greater part of his life was devoted to the study and teaching of Latin and the improvement of the classical schools, of which he was chief inspector. As a critic of classical texts he was distinguished for learning and acumen. He devoted much attention to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, and revolutionized the study of his philosophical writings by an edition of ''De Finibus'' (1839). Other major contributions to classical scholarship are his ''Emendationes Livianae'' (1860; 2d ed. 1877) and the papers collected in his ''Opuscula Academica'' ('Minor Academic Works') (1838) and ''Adversaria Critica'' (3 vols., 1871–84). Perhaps his most widely known works are those on Latin

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

and Greek

syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...

, especially his Latin grammar for schools (Eng. trans. by G Woods). In 1874, his vision began to fail, and Madvig was forced to give up much of his work. He continued to lecture, and in 1879 he was chosen rector of the university for the sixth time. In 1880 he resigned his professorship, but went on with his work on the Roman constitution, which was completed and published before his death. In the book, Madvig takes a strongly conservative standpoint and attacks

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...

's views on

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

's programme of reforms. It is a clear exposition, though rather too dogmatic and without sufficient regard for the views of other scholars. His last work was his autobiography, ''Livserindringer'' (published 1887). One of his textbooks, on Latin syntax, was re-issued as recently as 2001.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Madvig, Johan Nicolai 1804 births 1886 deaths Kultus ministers of Denmark 19th-century Danish philologists University of Copenhagen alumni Speakers of the Folketing Rectors of the University of Copenhagen Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) People from Bornholm Danish Latinists

Life

References

Further reading

External links