Johann Karl Eduard Buschmann (14 February 1805 in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Mag ...

– 21 April 1880 in Berlin) 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 especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

. His research in comparative philology was directed chiefly toward the dialects of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and those of Central and Northwestern

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. He worked closely with Wilhelm and

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

Biography

His early schooling was at the school of the Jacobi-Kirche (1811-1814), and then at the ''Domschule'' in Magdeburg (1814-1823). He then studied (1823-1827) at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

under Böckh, Wolf, and

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

, and at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...

under Bopp. Then he was a tutor in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, where he gave much attention to the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

and other languages. He returned to Germany via the United States, France and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In Germany, he settled in Berlin where he was introduced by Bopp to

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...

, whom he assisted from 1829 to 1835 in the preparation of his work on the

Kavi language Kavi or KAVI may refer to: People * Agasthya Kavi, 14th century composer from Warangal * Appachcha Kavi (1868–1930), Indian poet and playwright * Archana Kavi (born 1988), Indian film actress and YouTuber * Arunachala Kavi (1711–1779), Tamil p ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. Humboldt also recommended Buschmann to the royal library in Berlin, where he became an assistant in 1832. After Humboldt's death in 1835, Buschmann was the sole author of the third volume, which contained a comparative grammar of the South Sea and Malay languages. The Berlin Academy put him in charge of editing the whole work (3 vols., Berlin, 1836-1840). Buschmann also published Humboldt's vocabulary of the Tahitian language in his ''Aperçu de la langue des îles Marquises et la langue taïtienne'' (1843).

employed him to prepare the original manuscript of his ''

Kosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'' (1845-1859), of which the last MS. volume, corrected by Humboldt, was in 1866 presented by Buschmann to the emperor Napoleon, who gave it to the imperial library in Paris. Buschmann was made professor at the University of Berlin in 1840, and director of the royal library in 1853. In 1851, he became a member of the Berlin Academy.

Works

In addition to ''Aperçu'', he wrote: * ''Die Conjugation des französischen Verbums'' (The conjugation of French verbs; 1831, 2nd ed. 1833) * ''Über die aztekischen Ortsnamen'' (On Aztec place names; 1853) * ''Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache im nördlichen Mexiko und höhern amerikanischen Norden'' (Traces of the Aztec language in northern Mexico and upper North America; 1859) * ''Das Apache und der athapaskische Sprachstamm'' (3 vols., 1860–63) * ''Grammatik der sonorischen Sprachen'' (Grammar of the Sonoran dialects; 3 parts, 1864–69) * ''Über den Naturlaut'' (1883) He edited the writings of

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or ' ...

(7 vols., 1843-1845) and the ''Fremdwörterbuch'' of Christian August Heynes (Dictionary of foreign words; 9th ed. 1844).

Notes

References

* * This work in turn cites: ** Julius Eduard Hitzig, Wilhelm David Koner. ''Gelehrtes Berlin im Jahre 1845, 1846'', pp. 52–54. ** **Eugen Paunel. ''Die Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin'', 1965. ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buschmann, Johann Karl Eduard 1805 births 1880 deaths German philologists German librarians University of Göttingen alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Humboldt University of Berlin faculty