Franz Xaver Gabelsberger

Franz Xaver Gabelsberger ( born February 9, 1789 in Munich, † January 4, 1849 ibid ) was with Gabelsberger shorthand the inventor of a cursive ( graphical ) shorthand system, and thus a precursor of today's common German Unity shorthand.

Life

Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, whose father, a wind instrument maker from Munich, died early, went to a convent school and completed his high school studies in 1807 at the ( present ) Wilhelmsgymnasium from Munich. A study he could not accept, because it lacked the necessary funds, and he was also impaired health. For this reason, he went to the Bavarian civil service, where he was already 21 years old clerk. His superiors noticed his extremely beautiful handwriting and his skills in calligraphy and lithography. Gabelsberger soon noticed that there was a lack of a writing system that allows you to quickly write and thus could facilitate the work.

At the age of 28, he began to develop his system. Through the establishment of parliaments in the southern German monarchies, more precisely since the Bavarian constitutional reform of 26 May 1818 a shorthand necessary was (England and France had been more widespread shorthand systems, however, proved to mitlautreiche German language as unfit ). The system of Gabelsberger sat down in this area and consequently also in the administrations rapidly by. It has been used ( in addition to the geometric shorthand system Clumping / home ) during the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1848/49. Gabelsberger became the first parliamentary stenographer of the Bavarian Parliament. It quickly became his system introduced in most other parliaments where one ( next to the systems Proud, Proud / Schrey, etc.) until well into the 20th century it applied until the German unification Shorthand (DEK ) was replaced.

Gabelsberger, meanwhile, went up to Ministerial Secretary got certified by the Academy of Sciences in Munich that his system " to look quite original and with sufficient brevity more common, more reliable and more readable than any previous [ shorthand ] " is.

The Bavarian Chamber of Deputies granted Gabelsberger subsequently thousand florins annually, of which he had to use half for himself, the other half to promote its Steno students. In 1834 he published his shorthand system. He improved his system and on, also published teaching materials and taught his students. In 1840 he designed a Abbreviaturschrift. 1843 was followed by another font. The recorded in the List of syllable lexicon is nowhere to be found in libraries.

1849 found him on a street in Munich a stroke, the consequences of which he died. Fork Bergers grave is located on the Old Southern Cemetery in Glockenbachviertel in Munich. ( Grave field 7-10-54. ( Standort48.1282511.566 ) )

Work

Fork Bergers system was reformed several times over the following decades of followers of his school; so in 1857 by the " Dresdner decisions ", 1895 by the "Wiener decisions" and most recently in 1902 by the " Berlin decisions ". To this end, there is an extensive book and journal literature as well as a three-digit number of textbooks.

His shorthand was the most successful Stenografiesystem in Germany and Austria and was transferred to numerous foreign languages. The number of system- competent stenographer was around the turn of the century ( due to statistical yearbooks, the students in the entire Reich auswiesen ) to about four million citizens appreciated. The users were mostly at the middle or upper class and were mostly male - the principle fork Bergers following that the shorthand should be writing all educated. Even today often appear manuscripts of scientists from the time recorded in Gabelsberger shear shorthand and in some cases still awaiting their transfer. The use of shorthand in secretarial or office area is a later invention.

The Gabelsbergersche shorthand became the basis for most of the cursive Stenografiesysteme used today both in the German-speaking countries as well as in large parts of eastern and northern Europe. After Gabelsberger streets in numerous German and Austrian cities are named. In his honor, there are monuments in Munich and Traunstein. In Main castle, where the family Gabelsberger has been based since 1636, the local high school was named after him.

Works

• About the syllable lexicon 1823. From the estate were printed in sheets Munich 1880, pp. 67-71
• Guide to German speech character art or stenography. Munich 1834 (1831) (inventory Bavarian State Library ); 2nd edition 1850 in the Google Book Search
• New perfections in the German speech draftsmanship or stenography. Munich: Ge. Franz 1843 ² 1849 (inventory Bavarian State Library )