Carl Meinhof

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Carl Meinhof, around 1870
Carl Meinhof, undated photo

Carl Friedrich Michael Meinhof (born July 23, 1857 in Barzwitz near Rügenwalde in Western Pomerania ; † February 11, 1944 in Greifswald , buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg) was a Protestant pastor and Africanist .

In 1909 Carl Meinhof held the first professorship for African Studies in Germany in Hamburg . Meinhof previously worked as a language teacher at the Department of Oriental Languages ​​at the University of Berlin. He retired in 1936 at the age of 79, and was succeeded by August Klingenoben .

Life

Carl Meinhof was a son of the pastor and revival preacher Friedrich Meinhof (1800-1881) and his third wife Clara Christiane Giesebrecht (1819-1893). He studied at the universities in Erlangen and Greifswald . There he became a member of the Erlanger and Greifswalder Wingolf . He then continued his studies in Tübingen . In 1886 he became a pastor in Zizow , a Pomeranian village near Rügenwalde. In his free time he was engaged in philological studies. By chance he came into contact with African languages through a neighboring manor : he was supposed to give German lessons to a Duala boy who lived there . He was married to Elly Heyer (1858-1894) from 1882 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1944 to Anna Kloss (1866-1944). Meinhof had a total of twelve children, three of whom died prematurely. Meinhof became a member of the NSDAP in May 1933 . In November 1933 he signed the German professors' confession of Adolf Hitler .

Scientific work

One of the most important works of Meinhof was a comparative grammar of the Bantu languages . Based on the pioneering work of Wilhelm Bleek , he developed a systematic collection and research of African languages ​​and traditions. For example, he recorded traditional African music with a phonograph in Tanzania as early as 1902 and published collections of African fairy tales .

Meinhof developed the linguistic Hamite theory further, according to which the light-skinned North African peoples and their descendants represent a “ master race ” more highly developed within Africa . In particular, he tried to prove that the Bantu peoples emerged from a merger of Hamitic and non-Hamitic African peoples. Likewise, the "Hottentots" (today: Nama ) arose from a merger of Hamites and "Bushmen" (today: San ).

Writings (monographs)

  • Outline of a phonology of the Bantu languages ​​together with instructions for the inclusion of Bantu languages. Leipzig 1899
  • The Christianization of the Languages ​​of Africa. Basel 1905
  • Basics of a comparative grammar of the Bantu languages. Berlin 1906
  • Textbook of the Nama language. Berlin 1909.
  • The Herero language in German South West Africa. Berlin 1909
  • The Swahili language in German East Africa. Berlin 1910
  • The Hamite languages. Friederichsen, Hamburg 1912
  • The language of the Duala in Cameroon. Berlin 1912
  • A study trip to Kordofan , Friederichsen, Hamburg 1916
  • as editor: African fairy tales. Diederichs, Jena 1917
  • The emergence of inflected languages. Berlin 1936
  • Basics of a comparative grammar of the Bantu languages. Second completely reworked edition . Eckhardt & Messtorff, Hamburg 1948 (published posthumously)

literature

Web links

Commons : Carl Meinhof  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 11 February 1944 died Rainer Hering:  MEINHOF, Carl Friedrich Michael. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 921-960.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  2. ↑ Complete directory of Wingolf, Lichtenberg 1991
  3. ↑ H.Meyer-Bahlburg / E. Wolff: African languages ​​in research and teaching, p. 60.
personal data
SURNAME Meinhof, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meinhof, Carl Friedrich Michael (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Africanist
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Barzwitz near Rügenwalde
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1944
Place of death Greifswald