Antonio de Nebrija

Elio Antonio de Nebrija, (* 1444 as Antonio Martínez de Cala in Lebrija, province of Seville, † July 5, 1522 in Alcalá de Henares) was a Spanish humanist and philologist.

Antonio de Nebrija was born as Antonio Martínez de Cala, but changed his name in honor of his home town of Lebrija (Latin: Nebrissa Veneria ) and the Roman military leader Elio, who conquered the province of Baetica, Elio Antonio de Nebrija in. In his work Introductiones Latinae his name is in Latin: Antonius Lebrixen ( edition of 1481 ) or Anthony Nebrissen ( edition of 1501).

Life and work

1459-1463 he studied philosophy and mathematics at the University of Salamanca. After graduating, he went to Italy for several years at the University of Bologna and deepened and broadened his knowledge in humanistic environment of advanced Italian culture. 1470 he returned to Spain and worked for several years for the Bishop Fonseca of Seville.

1476 he was appointed professor of grammar at his former University of Salamanca, where he renewed the Latin lessons in Spain. In 1481 he published the Introductiones Latinae, a textbook of Latin, which was used until the 19th century. His ' popular ' type of treatment of the venerable Latin led to a quarrel with his colleagues, so he moved to Alcalá de Henares in 1490. There he worked on the Complutensischen with polyglot, a multilingual edition of the Bible, as well as a royal poet and chronicler.

In 1492 he published his Gramática de la lengua castellana - Grammar of the Castilian language (which is now considered outside Spain as " Spanish language "). Nebrija Castilian grammar was the first printed grammar of a Roman and non-classical language. Their importance, however, was detected only in the 18th century. Nebrija dedicated the grammar of the Spanish Queen Isabella I, when he saw the "language as a companion of the Empire ", comparable to the Latin of the Romans. In the prologue, he referred to the historicity of language and the necessity of linguistic unity. With his demand for a conscious Spanish language cultivation as on the propagation of Castilian beyond the borders of Spain, he proved prophetic gifts, because in the same year Columbus discovered America, took to the Spanish crown in possession and - at least in the medium term - Spanish thus international standing helped. Nebrija was ahead of his time, so that by the grammar only one edition was published because, despite growing language awareness of the vernacular, Latin still took the dominant role in culture and science.

1495, he published the first Spanish- Latin dictionary.

1509 he tried again in Salamanca to take root, but again there came into conflict with less open-minded professors and left Salamanca in 1512 to go to Seville, but where he remained only one year.

From 1513 to 1522 Nebrija had held the chair of rhetoric at the University of Alcalá de Henares.