Johann Kaspar Zeuss

Johann Kaspar Zeuß ( born July 22, 1806 Vogt village, † November 10, 1856 ibid ), German philologist, was polyhistorisch versed and considered the founder of Celtic Studies.

Biography

Zeuß (now a district of Kronach ) Vogt was born in the village and should begin at the request of his parents, a career as a priest. But he decided to try to live a life as a scholar. At his school in Bamberg and the study in Munich, he developed a special interest in history and language research.

After graduating, he taught first at the local high school. His 1837 book published The Origin of Bavaria of the Marcomanni earned him the honorary doctorate from the University of Erlangen. In the same year moved to Speyer Zeuß and finally took a professorship in 1847 - again in Munich - at. From 1842 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

For health reasons, he retired in 1848 from teaching and worked in Bamberg as a teacher of the Lyceum, but remained the Munich Academy as a foreign member connected. In 1853 he published his most important work, the monumental Grammatica Celtica, which should establish his fame. Zeuß died after a long illness in Vogt village in Kronach.

After Zeuß a fountain and the Kaspar- Zeuß -Gymnasium in Kronach inter alia a road named. Also in Bamberg and Speyer contributes one each street its name. In addition, the Johann- Kaspar- Zeuß Prize for outstanding academic achievements of local students and doctoral students will be awarded annually in Kronach.

The estate of Zeuß is located in the Bavarian State Library

Appreciation

Zeuß was a classical scholar with wide-ranging knowledge, which he could combine the philology with the science of history and ethnology. His Germanic studies made ​​him realize that the Celtic languages ​​had to be rescued by a scientific documentation from extinction.

In order to original sources - especially in Old Irish - to arrive, traveled Zeuß to Karlsruhe, Würzburg, St. Gallen, Milan, London and Oxford, and made ​​there on copies. He was interested in both old and young Celtic languages ​​and dialects. His Grammatica Celtica proved beyond reasonable doubt that the Celtic languages ​​belong to the Indo-European family of languages ​​, and introduced the Celtic philology on a scientific basis.

After the death Zeuß ' his major work has been subjected to a revision and re-issued in 1871 by Hermann Ebel in Berlin. In 2006, was released to his 200th birthday and his 150th death anniversary in Ireland a commemorative stamp. The city Kronach held in June 2006 in cooperation with the University of Bamberg, an international symposium.

Works

  • The Germans and the neighboring tribes, Munich 1837 (Google Books)
  • The proven origin of the Bavarians of the Marcomanni against the previous conjectures, Munich 1839
  • Traditiones possessionesque Wizenburgenses, Speyer 1842
  • The free city of Speier described locally before its destruction by documentary sources, Speyer 1843
  • Grammatica Celtica e Monumentis vetustis tam Hibernicae linguae quam Britannicae dialecti cambricae cornicae armoricae nec non e Gallicae priscae reliquiis construxit JC Zeuss, Lipsiae (Leipzig) 1853
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