Franz Anton Schiefner
Franz Anton Schiefner (Russian Антон Антонович Шифнер; * 6 Junijul / June 18 1817greg in Reval, .. .. † 4 Novemberjul / November 16 1879greg in Saint Petersburg ) was a linguist and anthropologist deutschbaltischer. He is considered one of the founders of Uralic Studies, Tibetology, Mongolian and Caucasian.
Training
Franz Anton Schiefner was born into a Baltic German merchant family in Tallinn. The family had emigrated from Bohemia to Estonia. After graduating from the Military and cathedral school at Reval (Tallinn ), he studied from 1836 to 1840 at the University of St. Petersburg law and 1840-1842 Oriental Studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin.
Science
From 1843 Schiefner was a teacher of Latin and Greek at a high school in St. Petersburg, in 1863 and later Librarian Library Director at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1852, he represented the tray Tibetology at the Academy, whose extraordinary he was a member from 1854 until his death. From 1860 to 1873 he had simultaneously been a professor of Latin and Greek at the Roman Catholic seminary. In the years 1863, 1865 and 1878, he stayed for research purposes in England. In 1866 he was appointed to the real State.
Appreciation
Schiefner has significantly contributed to numerous publications for the Study of Tibetan and Mongolian. Milestones were his editing of the New Testament in Mongolian language and the translation of Buddhist texts from Tibetan. In addition Schiefner was one of the best connoisseurs Finno- Ugric languages of his time. Famous is his translation of the Finnish national epic Kalevala under the title Kalevala, the national epic of the Finns, the first translation into German (1852 ). From 1853 to 1862 he was in twelve volumes out the work by the late Matthias Alexander Castrén, who laid the foundations of the scientific study of the Finno -Ugric and Samoyed languages of Russia. In addition, Schiefner dedicated languages of the Caucasus, as well as issues of Indology.
Works
- Edited by Castren's attempt at a Yenisey Ostyak and Cozie Language Teaching, St. Petersburg 1858