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 especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

Biography

He was born at

Spantekow Spantekow is a Municipalities of Germany, 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. ...

, in

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, West ...

, and educated at schools in

Anklam Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...

and Berge Monastery,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

, and the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

. In 1759 he was appointed professor at the gymnasium of

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

, 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 German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, 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 (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, 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 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 Johann Severin Vater (; May 27, 1771, Altenburg – March 16, 1826, Halle) was a German theologian, biblical scholar, and linguist. Biography He was a student and professor at Jena and Halle. In 1809, he became professor at Königsberg. In 1820 ...

(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''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelung, Johann Christoph 1732 births 1806 deaths People from Vorpommern-Greifswald People from the Province of Pomerania Linguists from Germany 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