Anton Schiefner

Anton von Schiefner

Franz Anton (from) Schiefner ( Russian Антон Антонович Шифнер , Anton Antonovič Šifner * June 6 ^jul. / 18th June  1817 ^greg. In Tallinn , † November 4 ^jul. / 16th November  1879 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a Baltic German linguist and ethnologist . He is considered one of the founders of Ural Studies , Tibetology , Mongolian Studies and Caucasian Studies .

Life

Anton Schiefner was born in Reval as the son of a German Baltic merchant family. The family had immigrated to Estonia from Bohemia . 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 University of Berlin .

From 1843 Schiefner was a teacher of Latin and ancient Greek at a grammar school in Saint Petersburg , from 1863 librarian and later library director at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences . From 1852 he represented the subject of Tibetology at the academy, of which he was an extraordinary member from 1854 until his death. From 1860 to 1873 he held a professorship for Latin and Greek at the Roman Catholic Seminary. In the years 1863, 1865 and 1878 he stayed in England for research purposes . In 1866 he was appointed to the Real Council of State. Schiefner was a corresponding member of the Finnish Literature Society .

Appreciation

With numerous publications, Schiefner has contributed significantly to the study of Tibetan and Mongolian . Milestones were his editing of the New Testament in Mongolian and the translation of Buddha texts from Tibetan. In addition, Schiefner was one of the best experts in the Finno-Ugric languages ​​of his time. His translation of the Finnish national epic Kalevala under the title Kalewala, the national epic of the Finns , the first translation into German (1852) is famous . Between 1853 and 1862 he published the work of Matthias Alexander Castrén , who died early, in twelve volumes , which laid the foundation for the academic study of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed languages ​​of Russia . In addition, Schiefner devoted himself to the languages ​​of the Caucasus and subjects of Indology .

Publications (selection)

• Kalewala, the national epic of the Finns . 1852.
• (Ed.): M. Alexander Castrén's M. Alexander Castrén's Nordic Travels and Research . 12 volumes, St. Petersburg 1853–1862.

literature

• Hartmut Walravens:  Schiefner, Franz Anton von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 736-738 ( digitized version ).
• Hartmut Walravens, Agnes Stache-Weiske (ed.): Anton Schiefner (1817-1879) and his Indological friends. His letters to the Indologists Albrecht Weber (1825-1901), Rudolf Roth (1821-1895) and William D. Whitney (1827-1894) as well as the Indo-Europeanist Adalbert Kuhn (1812-1881) . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-7001-7799-9 .
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Anton Schiefner. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• Hartmut Walravens / Agnes Stache-Weiske (eds.): Anton Schiefner (1817–1879), Letters and List of Writings , Vienna: Verlag der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften 2017 (meeting reports / Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class; 884th) ( Contributions to the cultural and intellectual history of Asia; 94) ISBN 978-3-7001-8069-2 .

Web links

Wikisource: Anton Schiefner  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Anton Schiefner in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biographies of museum directors of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology (Engl.)
• Biography , Biographical Encyclopedia , (Russian)
• Life data , EEVA (text collection)
• Franz Anton von Schiefner