Karl Christian Sigismund Bernhardi (5 October 1799, Ottrau – 1 August 1874,

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 ...

) was a German

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and politician. He studied

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 ...

at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

, and afterwards worked as a private tutor in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. He furthered his education at the

State University of Leuven The State University of Leuven () was a university founded in 1817 in Leuven in Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was distinct from the Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) and from the Catholic University of L ...

, where he subsequently received the post of university librarian. In 1829 he relocated to

as successor to

Jakob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the '' Deuts ...

at the Kassel State Library.ADB:Bernhardi, Karl Christian Sigismund
at

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

In Kassel he was deeply involved with political, social and cultural concerns. In 1834 he co-founded the ''Anstalt zur Erziehung armer und verwahrloster Knaben'', an institution that dealt with the education of underprivileged youth. He was an editor of the liberal newspaper ''Der Verfassungsfreund'', and in 1834 was co-founder of the ''Vereins für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde'' (Association for Hessian history and regional studies). From 1835 to 1840 he served as director of the Kassel citizens' committee and in 1848 was elected to the

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848). The ...

. The eponymous ''Karl-Bernhardi-Strasse'', located behind the

Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.

in Kassel, is named in his honor. In 1844 he published a "language map" of Germany, ''Sprachkarte von Deutschland'' (2nd edition, 1849 with Wilhelm Stricker) — a work that helped spark interest in the

linguistic 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 ...

study of

German dialects German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant s ...

. His other noteworthy publications include: * ''Wegweiser durch die deutschen Volks- und Jugendschriften'' (with August Lüben), 1852 – Guide to German popular and young peoples' writings. * ''Die Sprachgrenze zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich'', 1871 – The language border between Germany and France. Bernhardi was the author of numerous articles in the ''

''.Kategorie:ADB:Autor:Karl Bernhardi
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhardi, Karl 1799 births 1874 deaths State University of Leuven alumni People from Schwalm-Eder-Kreis German librarians 19th-century German linguists University of Marburg alumni Members of the Frankfurt Parliament Members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation