Josef Jungmann (16 July 1773 – 14 November 1847) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, and a leading figure of the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech Czech language, language, culture and national identity. The most pro ...

. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the modern

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

. The literary award for the best translation into Czech is named after him.

Life

Josef Jungmann was born on 16 July 1773 in Hudlice near

Beroun Beroun (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. It lies at the confluence of the Berounka and Litavka rivers. Beroun creates a conurbation with Králův Dvůr, former part of Beroun. ...

. He was the sixth child (out of ten) of a cobbler. His father was of Bohemian German descent and his mother was of Czech descent. The children grew up speaking both languages at home, which contributed heavily to Jungmann's later role as a revivalist of the Czech language. In his youth, he wanted to become a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. After he completed grammar school in 1788-1792 however, he went on to study

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 ...

and Law. Beginning in 1799, he started teaching at the local high school in

Litoměřice Litoměřice (; ) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument reservation. The town is the seat of the Roman C ...

(today known as Josef Jungmann Gymnasium), which had a German majority at that time. In 1815, he moved to

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 ...

, where he worked until 1845 in the Old Town Academic Grammar School as a Czech professor. He earned a doctorate in Philosophy and

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

in 1817; he was the dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1827 and 1838. In 1840, he became the rector of

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 ...

. He died on 14 November 1847 in Prague.

Work

Jungmann was a rigorous advocate of the rebirth of the written Czech language. In contrast to his teacher, Josef Dobrovský, he also wrote his works in Czech. In 1805, he published a translation of Chateaubriand's '' Atala''. By this, he intended to prove that the Czech language is suitable for complicated artistic texts. Later, he published translations of

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on literary, political, and philosoph ...

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

and

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

. His translation of ''Paradise Lost'' by Milton was called by Derek Sayer "the cornerstone" of the modern literary Czech language. Jungmann's original

poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

are few, but include two early Revival

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s and the short narrative poem ''Oldřich a Božena''. In following years, he published a series of

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

texts, most notably the "Talks on Czech Language". In 1820, he published "Slovesnost", which was a kind of a stylistic textbook. In 1825, a "History of Czech literature" followed. His most important work is the Czech–German dictionary in five volumes (1834–39). In this dictionary, he laid out the basis for the modern Czech vocabulary. In order to achieve the stylistic range of vocabulary he desired, for poetic effect, and in order to expand the lexical resources of Czech, Jungmann revived archaic words, for which he studied historical documents, or borrowed from other

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

, and created neologisms. Many of his words became a permanent part of the language.

Honours

Jungmannova Street and Jungmannovo náměstí (Jungmann's Square) in

are named after him; the square contains a large statue of Josef Jungmann. There is also a Jungmannova Street named for him in the

Petržalka Petržalka (; ; ) is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 people. Names and etymology The German name ...

district of

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia.

Literature

* Antibohemia, 1814 * Historie literatury české aneb Soustavný přehled spisů českých, s krátkou historií národu, osvícení a jazyka, 1825 **''History of

Czech Literature Czech literature can refer to literature written in Czech language, Czech, in the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia, earlier the Lands of the Bohemian Crown), or by Czech people. Most literature in the Czech Republic is now written in C ...

, or Systematic Survey of Czech Writings, with a Short History of the

Nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

, Enlightenment and

Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

'', 1825 * Krok * Nepředsudečné mínění o české prozódii, 1804 * O jazyku českém, 1806 **''On the Czech Language'', 1806 * O klasičnosti literatury a důležitosti její **''On Classical Literature and Its Importance'' * Oldřich a Božena, 1806 * Rozmlouvání o jazyku českém **''Talks on the Czech Language'' * Slovesnost aneb Sbírka příkladů s krátkým pojednáním o slohu, 1820 * Slovník česko-německý, 1834–1839 (5 dílů) **''Czech-German Dictionary'', 1834–1839 (5 editions) * Slovo ke statečnému a blahovzdělanému Bohemariusovi, 1814 * Zápisky, 1871 **''Notes'', 1871

Biographies

*Emanuel Chalupný: Jungmann, Prague 1909 *Julius Dolanský: Jungmannův odkaz (Z dějin české slovesnosti), Prague 1948

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jungmann, Josef 1773 births 1847 deaths 18th-century writers from Bohemia 18th-century linguists 19th-century linguists 18th-century poets from Bohemia 19th-century Czech poets Linguists from the Austrian Empire Czech language activists Czech lexicographers Czech male poets People from Beroun District 19th-century Czech male writers Language reformers 18th-century male writers Burials at Olšany Cemetery German Bohemian people Czech translators German–Czech translators Scholars from the Austrian Empire Poets from the Austrian Empire