Karl Meuli

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Karl Meuli (1891–1968), classical philologist, full professor for classical studies with a special focus on ancient folklore. Family grave in the Hörnli cemetery, Riehen, Basel-Stadt
Grave in the Hörnli cemetery , Riehen, Basel-Stadt

Karl Meuli (born September 16, 1891 in Märstetten , † May 1, 1968 in Basel ) was a Swiss classical philologist .

Life

Karl Meuli was the son of the doctor Johann Lorenz Meuli. From 1911 he studied Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and archeology in Munich, Berlin and Basel. In Basel he was shaped above all by his teacher Peter Von der Mühll , with whom he had a friendship. In 1920 he received his doctorate and in 1926 his habilitation. 1919–1957 he was a teacher at the humanistic grammar school in Basel. At the same time he was professor for classical antiquity with special consideration of ancient folklore at the University of Basel from 1933 to 1960 and carried out ethnological, religious history and psychological research (also with a strong philological reference).

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Meuli “felt like a classical philologist all his life”. The connection of this science with folklore, to which "at least ethnology and religious history" belonged, "remains characteristic of all his learned work". "There is one characteristic that goes through all of Meuli's major investigations: the striving to get to the roots of the phenomena."

Meuli was a member of the board of the Swiss Folklore Society for thirty years . A good part of the folk song archive and the plan of the folklore atlas can be traced back to him. the surveys for this and for the Rhaeto-Romanic hymn; the series Volkstum der Schweiz  ; the «Farmhouse Research in Switzerland»; the foundation of the Swiss Institute for Folklore in Basel. "

As editor, Meuli has been responsible for the complete edition of Johann Jakob Bachofen's works since 1935 . For his scientific achievements, he found international recognition as an honorary member of eight learned societies and the academies of Heidelberg and Oslo . 1935–1943 and 1955–1957 Meuli worked as chairman of the Swiss Society for Folklore and, in his first term of office, turned against a racist instrumentalisation of folklore.

After Meuli's death, the papers he left behind came into the possession of Thomas Gelzer and Franz Jung, the editors of Meuli's collected writings (1975). The Meulis family handed over the estate to the Basel University Library in 1978, in accordance with Meuli's request .

Fonts (selection)

  • Scythica. In: Hermes . Volume 70, 1935, pp. 121-176.
  • as editor: Johann Jakob Bachofen, Collected Works. Issued using the estate. Basel 1943–1967.
  • Swiss masks. With an introduction to Swiss mask customs and mask carvers. Atlantis, Zurich 1943.
  • Greek sacrificial customs. Schwabe, Basel 1946.
  • The Greek agon. Fight and fighting game in the custom of the dead, dance of death, lamentation and praise for the dead. Historical seminar of the German Sport University Cologne, Cologne 1968 (also habilitation thesis, University of Basel 1926).
  • Festschrift for Karl Meuli on his 60th birthday In: Swiss Archives for Folklore , Vol. 47, 1951, pp. 1–289

literature

  • Thomas Gelzer (Ed.): Karl Meuli. Collected writings, 2 volumes. Schwabe, Basel 1975 (with biography, portrait and list of publications). In this:
    • Franz Jung: Karl Meuli. Life and Work , Volume 2, pp. 1153–1209.
  • Edgar Bonjour :  Meuli, Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 264 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Roland Baumgarten: Meuli, Karl. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 814 f.
  • Fritz Graf (Hrsg.): Classical antiquity and new ways of cultural studies: Symposium Karl Meuli (Basel, September 11-13, 1991) . Contributions to folklore . Volume 11. Swiss Society for Folklore, Basel 1992
  • Daniel Suter: Scholars' bequests from 550 years. Accompanying publication to the exhibition "Collect, sift, make visible. Scholars' bequests from 550 years". University Library, Basel 2000, pp. 38–41.
  • Konrad J. Kuhn: Networks, identity politics and a narrative of demarcation. On the history of knowledge of the relationships between “folkish” and Swiss folklore. In: Zeitschrift für Volkskunde , Volume 113, 2017, pp. 42–63.
  • Fritz Husner: Dedicated to the memory of Karl Meuli. Morituro sat. On the history of a house inscription In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Vol. 73, 1973, pp. 99–129

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Meyer: The Humanist Gymnasium Basel 1889-1989 . Schwabe, Basel 1989, ISBN 3-7965-0893-6 , pp. 155f.
  2. ^ Bernhard Wyss: Karl Meuli . In: Swiss Folklore . Volume 58, 1968, p. 54.
  3. ^ Bernhard Wyss: Karl Meuli . In: Swiss Folklore . Volume 58, 1968, p. 55.
  4. ^ Atlas of Swiss Folklore . Swiss Society for Folklore, Basel 1950–1995
  5. ^ Nationality of Switzerland . Volumes 1-12. Helbing and Lichtenhahn, then G. Krebs, Basel 1941–1979
  6. ^ Campaign for farmhouse research in Switzerland
  7. ^ Institute SIV. Retrieved March 23, 2019 .
  8. ^ Bernhard Wyss: Karl Meuli . In: Swiss Folklore . Volume 58, 1968, p. 53.
personal data
SURNAME Meuli, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss ethnologist and classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Märstetten
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1968
Place of death Basel