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

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 race; as well as the st ...

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

Life and work

Dobrovský was born at

Balassagyarmat Balassagyarmat (Hungarian: ; formerly ''Balassa-Gyarmath''; german: Jahrmarkt; sk, Balážske Ďarmoty or ) is a town in northern Hungary. It was the seat of the Nógrád comitatus. Balassagyarmat is the capital city of Palóc country as the pro ...

, Nógrád County, in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

, when his father Jakub Doubravský (1701, Solnitz (Czech: Solnice),

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

1764, Bischofteinitz (Czech: Horšovský Týn), Bohemia) 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, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' deri ...

there. His mother was Magdalena Dobrovská (1733, Tschaslawsko (Czech: Čáslavsko), Bohemia 1797). He received his first education in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

school at

Horšovský Týn Horšovský Týn (; german: Bischofteinitz) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reser ...

in Plzeň district, made his first acquaintance with the

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...

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

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

at Klatovy. In 1769 he began to study

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

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

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

and was preparing for a Christian mission in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. However, the entire order was dissolved in the Czech lands in 1773 and Dobrovský thus returned to Prague to study

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

. 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); 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 areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...

and

philology 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 as ...

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

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in search of the manuscripts which had been scattered by the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, and on his return he accompanied Count Nostitz to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In the 1780s Dobrovský participated in the academic life of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. In 1784, he helped to set up the Royal Czech Society of Sciences, and in 1818 the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

of what was to become

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and eventually the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. However, his reason began to give way in 1795, and in 1801 he had to be confined in a lunatic asylum, 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. 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 lived in the so-called "Dobrovský House" on Kampa, often saying that the ''Blue

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', 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 the title for low ...

'' (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 (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...

, ''De rebus Geticis'', for Pertz's ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empir ...

'' See Palacký, ''J. Dobrowskys Leben und gelehrtes Wirken'' (1833).

Notes

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobrovsky, Josef 1753 births 1829 deaths 18th-century Bohemian people 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 Czech Republic Czech language activists Slavists Czech lexicographers Historians of the Czech lands Charles University alumni Members of the Russian Academy People from the Kingdom of Hungary People from the Kingdom of Bohemia People from Balassagyarmat Writers from Brno Czech Roman Catholic writers

Life and work

Most important works

See also

Notes

References

External link