Georg Curtius (April 16, 1820August 12, 1885) was a German

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 distinguished comparativist.

Biography

Curtius was born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, and was the brother of the historian and archeologist Ernst Curtius. After an education at

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

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 ...

, he was for three years schoolmaster in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, until (in 1845) he returned to Berlin University as a '' privatdocent''. In 1849 he was placed in charge of the Philological Seminary at

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, and two years later was appointed professor of classical philology in Prague University. In 1854, he moved from Prague to a similar appointment at

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, and again in 1862 from Kiel to

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He was teaching lndo-European and the historical grammar of the classical languages at Leipzig. His contributions were focused "to bridge the gulf between

classical philology 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, ...

and Aryan linguistics." As a professor he constantly attempted " to bring Classical Philology and the Science of Language into closer relation with each other." This is clearly reflected in the works of his pupils, and of his own. His philological theories exercised a widespread influence. The more important of his publications are: *''Die Sprachvergleichung in ihrem Verhältniss zur classischen Philologie'' (1845; Eng. trans. by FH Trithen, 1851) *''Sprachvergleichende Beiträge zur griechischen und lateinischen Grammatik'' (1846) *''Grundzüge der griechischen Etymologie'' (1858–1862, 5th ed. 1879) *''Das Verbum der griechischen Sprache'' (1873). The last two works were translated into English by Augustus Samuel Wilkins and Edwin Bourdieu England. From 1878 until his death Curtius was general editor of the ''Leipziger Studien zur classischen Philologie''. His ''Griechische Schulgrammatik'', first published in 1852, passed through more than twenty editions and was edited in English. In his last work, ''Zur Kritik der neuesten Sprachforschung'' (1885), he attacked the views of the emerging

Neogrammarian The Neogrammarians (, , ) were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change. Overview According to the Neogrammarian ...

school of philology. Curtius died in Hermsdorf am Kynast, aged 65, and was succeeded at Leipzig by his student Karl Brugmann. The ''Opuscula'' of Georg Curtius were edited after his death by

Ernst Windisch Ernst Wilhelm Oskar Windisch (4 September 1844, Dresden30 October 1918, Leipzig) was a German classical philologist and comparative linguist who specialised in Sanskrit, Celtic and Indo-European studies. In his student days at the University o ...

(''Kleine Schriften von E. C.'', 1886–1887). He was posthumously elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1886.

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites: ** **

in Conrad Bursian's ''Biographisches Jahrbuch für Alterthumskunde'' (1886)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtius, Georg 1820 births 1885 deaths German philologists Writers from Lübeck Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Members of the American Philosophical Society