Josua Maaler (also ''Maler, Mahler'', Latinized ''Pictorius''; 1529–1599) was a Swiss pastor and lexicographer. He was the author of the first dictionary which focussed exclusively on the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

, published in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

as ''Die Teütsch Spraach'' in 1561. Maaler followed the ''Dictionarium Latinogermanicum'' by Petrus Dasypodius (1536) in giving the German lemmas alphabetically, as opposed to the earlier ''Dictionarium Latino-Germanicum'' by Johannes Fries, which gave German glosses on Latin lemmas.

Works

* ''Die Teütsch spraach: alle wörter, namen, und arten zuo reden in Hochteütscher spraach: dem ABC nach ordenlich gestellt, unnd mit guotem Latein gantz fleissig unnd eigentlich vertolmetscht, dergleychen bishär nie gesähen. durch Josua Maaler … ='' ''Dictionarum Germanicolatinum novum: hoc est, Linguae Teutonicae, superioris praesentim, thesaurus: in quo omnes fere Germanicae dictiones atque locutiones ordine Alphabeti enumerantur, et Latine ex probatissimis authoribus, quam proprijsimè purissimeque redduntur. a Iosua Pictorio Tigurino confectus, et in lucem nunc primum editus. ''Preface by

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

''.'' Froschouer, Tiguri 1561, reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1971.

References

* * * Wilfried Kettler: ''Untersuchungen zur frühneuhochdeutschen Lexikographie in der Schweiz und im Elsass. Strukturen, Typen, Quellen und Wirkungen von Wörterbüchern am Beginn der Neuzeit.'' Peter Lang, Bern 2008, p. 594–625, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Maaler, Josua 1529 births 1599 deaths Swiss lexicographers Swiss Protestant ministers German dictionaries 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed ministers