Ferdinand Wiedemann

Portrait of Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann

Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann ( Russian Фердинанд Иванович (Иоганн) Видеман ; born March 18, ^jul. / The thirtieth March  1805 ^greg. In Haapsalu , † December 17 ^jul. / 29. December  1887 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a Baltic German linguist and Finno-Ugrist .

Life

Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann was born the son of a court clerk into a German-Swedish family in Hapsal. After graduating from high school in Reval in 1821 , he studied from 1824 to 1826 at the University of Dorpat . First he found a job as a teacher for ancient languages in Mitau , before he worked from 1837 to 1857 at his old grammar school in Reval as a teacher of ancient Greek and as a librarian . It was there that his fundamental work on Estonian and other Finno-Ugric languages ​​began . In 1854, Wiedemann was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and in 1857 a full member. In 1857 he moved to Saint Petersburg, where he continued his scientific work until his death.

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Wiedemann's Estonian-German dictionary , published in 1869, was of major importance for the formation of the modern Estonian language . It was based on many years of field research and was for a long time the most fundamental of its kind. In 1875 he published his grammar of the Estonian language , which contributed to the stabilization of a uniform Estonian.

Wiedemann also researched other Finno-Ugric languages. Among other things, he is the author of the Syrian-German dictionary on the language of the Komi as well as the two grammatical works Attempting a grammar of the Syrian language according to the dialects used in the translation of the Gospel of Matthäi (1847) and an attempt at a grammar of the Cheremiss language according to the Gospels translation of dialects used in 1821 (1847).

In addition, Wiedemann was very interested in folkloric observations in Estonia. In 1876, as a result of his work, the volume From the inner and outer life of Ehsten was published.

A language prize named after Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann has been awarded in Estonia since 1989.

literature

• Paul Ariste : Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann. Tallinn 2005³.
• Wilhelm Raeder: The teachers at the German schools in Courland 1805-1860. Revised by Erik Amburger on behalf of the Baltic Historical Commission . Lüneburg 1991. p. 68.
• Carola L. Gottzmann , Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . De Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 1405-1407 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Ferdinand Wiedemann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Ferdinand Wiedemann. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• From the inner and outer life of the youngest (online edition)
• Album academicum of the Imperial University of Dorpat , Dorpat 1889
• Life data , EEVA (text collection)