Wilhelm Meyer (philologist)

Wilhelm Meyer ( born April 1, 1845 in Speyer, † March 9, 1917 in Göttingen ), called " Wilhelm Meyer of Speyer ", was a German classical scholar, and medievalist librarian. He is one of the founders of the medieval Latin philology in Germany.

Meyer studied from 1863 in Würzburg and Munich classical philology, especially when Karl Halm. From 1872, he worked on the cataloging of the Latin manuscripts of the Court and State Library in Munich, whose director was Halm, and was there employed in 1875 as a library clerk. In 1885 he received an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich -Alexander- University of Erlangen, a year later, in 1886, he went as professor of classical philology at the University of Göttingen, but sat with the holdings of the university library, the manuscript cataloging continues. Between 1889 and 1895 he was released from teaching to design suggestion Friedrich Althoff's a plan for the cataloging of all manuscripts in Prussian libraries whose full implementation of the Ministry but appeared impracticable, especially since Meyer had fallen behind with his edition obligations to the Monumenta Germaniae Historica had.

In teaching and research, Meyer henceforth devoted solely to medieval Latin philology and was with Ludwig Traube in Munich, the first high school teachers of this discipline in Germany. He was a member of the Bavarian and the Göttingen Academy of Sciences.

Meyer was married to Pauline Riefenstahl. Their son Rudolf Meyer Riefenstahl was also a classical philologist and medievalist.

Writings (selection )

  • Collected Essays on Medieval Latin rhythms. 3 volumes. From 1905 to 1936.
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