Jan Gebauer (8 October 1838 in Úbislavice – 25 May 1907 in

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 ...

) was a significant expert on

Czech studies Bohemistics, also known as Czech studies, is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates Czech language and literature in both its historic and present-day forms. The common Czech name for the field is ''bohemistika''. A res ...

and one of the most renowned Czech scientists of all times. His scientific work was influenced by the methods of

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

Biography

Jan Gebauer was born into a poor family in the small village of Úbislavice near the

Giant Mountains The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše, or Karkonosze (Czech: , , ), are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif). The Czech–Polish bor ...

. Thanks to a recommendation from a local clergyman, Gebauer received an offer to study at high school in

Jičín Jičín (; or ''Gitschin'') is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

. After his school-leaving exam, he first went on to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, but he did not finish it and enrolled onto a

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

program at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

instead. During the whole time of his studies, he suffered from a lack of money. After finishing his studies, he started working as a teacher – in

at first, later in

Pardubice Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...

, and finally in Prague again. He received his Ph.D. in 1872 and became a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

of the Czech language at the Charles University in 1873. In 1880 he was named professor extraordinarius and one year later professor ordinarius. In 1886, he exposed the

Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora The Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora manuscripts (, and ''Rukopis zelenohorský, RZ'', and ''Grünberger Handschrift'') are literary Hoax, hoaxes purporting to be epic Slavic people, Slavic manuscripts written in Old Czech. They first appeared ...

("discovered" in 1817) as literary hoaxes by

Václav Hanka Václav Hanka (also written as ''Wenceslaus Hanka'') (10 June 1791 – 12 January 1861) was a Czechs, Czech philologist. Biography Hanka was born at Hořiněves near Hradec Králové. He was sent in 1807 to school at Hradec Králové, to esca ...

in Masaryk's

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

journal.Historical abstracts: Modern history abstracts, 1775-1914: Volume 17 American Bibliographical Center - 1971 "In 1886 Toma's G. Masaryk's journal Athenaeum published Jan Gebauer's philological article casting doubt on the authenticity of the Old Czech manuscripts of Dvur Kralove' and Zelena' Hora, accepted by most patriotic Czechs as precious ..."

Works

* ''Historická mluvnice jazyka českého'' (Historical grammar of the Czech language) – volumes ''Hláskosloví'' (Phonetics, 1894), ''Tvarosloví – Skloňování'' (Morphology – Declension, 1896), ''Tvarosloví – Časování'' (Morphology – Conjugation, 1898), ''Skladba'' (Syntax, 1929, edited and published by

František Trávníček František Trávníček (17 August 1888 – 6 June 1961) was a Czechoslovak Slavist, Bohemist, professor of the Czech language at Masaryk University and an academician of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. After February 1948, he was also a po ...

) * ''Slovník staročeský'' (Dictionary of the old Czech language, 1903, 2 volumes, finished and published by Emil Smetánka) * ''Mluvnice česká pro školy střední a ústavy učitelské I, II'' (Czech grammar for middle schools and pedagogical institutes I, II, 1890) * ''Krátká mluvnice česká'' (Short Czech grammar, 1891)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebauer, Jan 1838 births 1907 deaths Linguists from Austria-Hungary Historians from Austria-Hungary Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Historians of the Czech lands Historical linguists People from Jičín District Charles University alumni 19th-century Czech historians