Adolf Friedrich Stenzler

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Adolf Friedrich Stenzler around 1880

Adolf Friedrich Stenzler (born July 9, 1807 in Wolgast ; † February 27, 1887 in Breslau ) was a German Indologist who dealt in particular with the ancient Indian literary language Sanskrit and is considered one of the founders of Sanskrit studies in Germany . From 1833 he worked as an associate professor and from 1847 as a full professor of oriental languages ​​at the University of Breslau , where he also worked as a librarian and from 1836 as curator of the university libraryand also acted as rector in 1862/1863. From 1866 he was a corresponding member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences . With the “Elementary Book of the Sanskrit Language”, a textbook that has been published up to the present day goes back to him .

Life

Adolf Friedrich Stenzler was born in Wolgast in 1807 as the son of the local superintendent Lorenz Stenzler and his wife Charlotte Droysen. He began to learn Hebrew and Arabic while he was still at school in his hometown and from the age of 15 he attended grammar school in Friedland in Mecklenburg . From 1826 he studied first theology and then oriental languages at the University of Greifswald with Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten , from 1827 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin with Franz Bopp and from 1828 at the University of Bonn with August Wilhelm Schlegel . He received his doctorate on September 12, 1829 in Berlin and then went to Paris for a year for further studies from October of the same year . Here he attended courses from Antoine-Léonard de Chézy and Silvestre de Sacy, among others . He then worked at the library of the East India House in London until 1833 , where he came into contact with the British Indologist Henry Thomas Colebrooke .

He also met Alexander von Humboldt in London . His brother Wilhelm von Humboldt supported the then Prussian minister of culture, Karl vom Stein zum Altenstein, for the appointment of Stenzler to the University of Breslau , so that in 1833 he became an extraordinary professor for oriental languages ​​there. In 1847 he was promoted to full professor, and in 1862/1863 he was rector of the university. His teaching activities initially included primarily Arabic and Persian and later Sanskrit and comparative linguistics . In order to supplement his income, Stenzler worked alongside his teaching and research activities until 1872 as a librarian and from 1836 as curator of the university library . Since his work in the library limited the time available for research, some of his works appeared with a delay. Richard Pischel , Lucian Scherman and Franz Kielhorn were among his students in Breslau .

Adolf Friedrich Stenzler married Marie geb. von Liebenroth (1815-1892), a daughter of the Prussian Lieutenant General Karl Sigismund Wilhelm Gabriel von Liebenroth . The marriage remained childless. He died in Breslau in 1887 .

Act

Adolf Friedrich Stenzler published a number of books in Sanskrit as well as translations from Sanskrit into German . In addition to Indian literature , he also dealt with Indian literature in the fields of law and medicine . His most important work is the "Elementary Book of the Sanskrit Language", first published in 1868, on the grammar and vocabulary of Sanskrit. From the sales proceeds, he donated a scholarship for Sanskrit students in Wroclaw . The book, which was continued by Richard Pischel and Karl Friedrich Geldner , among others , was published in 2003, more than 130 years after its first publication, with an unchanged title and under Stenzler's authorship in a revised 19th edition.

Awards

Adolf Friedrich Stenzler was accepted as a corresponding member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1866 . A year later he was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg .

Works (selection)

  • Raghuvansa, Kâlidâsae carmen. London 1832 (Sanskrit and Latin)
  • Kumâra Sambhava, Kâlidâsae carmen. London 1838 (Sanskrit and Latin)
  • Indian house rules. First part: Açvalâyana. Leipzig 1864 to 1865 (two volumes)
  • Indian house rules. Second part: Pâraskara. Leipzig 1876 to 1878 (two volumes)
  • Elementary book of the Sanskrit language. First edition. Breslau 1868; 19th edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2003

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Adolf Friedrich Stenzler. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed November 10, 2015 .

Web links

Wikisource: Adolf Friedrich Stenzler  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Stenzler, Adolf Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Indologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolgast
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1887
Place of death Wroclaw