Karl Albert Agathon Benary (17 January 1807,

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

– 4 December 1860,

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 ...

) was a German

classical philologist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

. He was the brother of orientalist Franz Ferdinand Benary (1805–1880). He received his education at the gymnasiums in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

, where he was a student of

Franz Ernst Heinrich Spitzner Franz Ernst Heinrich Spitzner (October 31, 1787 – July 2, 1841) was a German educator and philologist who specialized in Homeric studies. He was born in Trebitz, Saxony-Anhalt. He studied theology and philology at the University of Wittenbe ...

. From 1824 to 1827 he studied classical philology at the universities of

and Halle, obtaining his doctorate with the dissertation "''De Aeschyli Prometheo soluto''". At Halle he was especially influenced by the teachings of

Christian Karl Reisig Christian Karl Reisig (name sometimes given as Karl Christian Reisig; 17 November 1792 – 17 January 1829) was a German philologist and linguist who was a native of Weißensee. Reisig studied philology under Gottfried Hermann (1772–1848) at t ...

. After graduation, he worked as a high school teacher in

, and in the meantime, continued his philological studies as a pupil of

Franz Bopp Franz Bopp (; 14 September 1791 – 23 October 1867) was a German linguistics, linguist known for extensive and pioneering comparative linguistics, comparative work on Indo-European languages. Early life Bopp was born in Mainz, but the pol ...

. From 1833 up until his death in 1860, he was associated with the Cölnischen Realgymnasium in Berlin. During this time period, he also gave lectures at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

August Leskien August Leskien (; 8 July 1840 – 20 September 1916) was a German linguist who studied comparative linguistics, particularly relating to the Baltic and Slavic languages. Biography Leskien was born in Kiel. He studied philology at the universiti ...

ADB:Benary, Agathon
In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, S. 314.

Works

He was among the first linguists to apply procedures of

comparative grammar Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic ...

to Latin and Greek. His major work on Roman

phonology Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...

, "''Die römische Lautlehre sprachvergleichend dargestellt''" (volume 1, 1837) unfortunately remained unfinished. A number of his essays were published in the "''Jahrbüchern für wissenschaftliche Kritik ''" and in

Adalbert Kuhn Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn (19 November 1812 – 5 May 1881) was a German philologist and folklorist. Kuhn was born in Königsberg in Brandenburg's Neumark region. From 1841, he was connected with the Köllnisches Gymnasium at Berlin, of wh ...

's "''

Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung '' / Historical Linguistics'' is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal covering Indo-European historical linguistics. It is the second oldest linguistics journal still in publication. The current editors-in-chief are Martin Kümmel (University ...

''" (Journal of Comparative Linguistics). The following are a few of his noted written efforts: * ''Das Unterscheidende des römischen Lautgesetzes''. Berlin, 1836. * ''Zur Vertheidigung der Gymnasien gegen die Beschuldigungen und Anträge des Herrn Regierungs- und Medicinal-Raths Dr. Lorinser'' (with A. Krech und A. Seebeck) Berlin, 1836. * ''Zur Geschichte der Herausgabe der "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Leben und meiner" Theilnahme an derselben''. Berlin, 1844.Agathon Benary
de.Wikisource

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benary, Agathon 1807 births 1860 deaths Writers from Kassel University of Halle alumni University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Linguists from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German linguists German classical philologists