Franz Karl Alter

Portrait of Franz Carl Alter, engraved by Anton Wachsmann

Franz Karl Alter (born January 27, 1749 in Engelsberg ; † May 29, 1804 in Vienna ) was a linguist .

Life

Born on January 27, 1749 in Engelsberg (Silesia), Franz Karl Alter was educated at the Olomouc grammar school . In 1766 he joined the Jesuit order , but after its dissolution he moved to Vienna. He then studied both church history and the Greek and Hebrew languages at the University of Prague to teach at a grammar school there. After he was then a teacher in Vienna at the public high school of the Theresian Academy Foundation , he was hired in 1779 as a research assistant at the library of the university there. From 1777 to 1779 he was also a teacher in the parish of St. Anna. At the same time he gave lectures on diplomacy at the university . Alter mastered both Oriental and Slavic languages ​​and studied Hellenism ; his linguistic talent came to the fore through his writing . In one of his works he speaks of 165 written works. He died in Vienna on May 29, 1804.

Works (selection)

• Novum Testamentum ad codicem Vindobonensem graece expressum: varietatem lectionis addidit FC Alter (1786)
• Cicero, de finibus bonorum et malorum et de fato (Vienna 1786)
• On Georgian Literature (Vienna 1798)
• Philological-critical miscellanous (Vienna 1799)
• Contribution to practical diplomacy for Slavs (Vienna 1801)
• Contribution to diplomacy (1801)

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Alter, Franz Karl . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 1st part. University book printer L. C. Zamarski (formerly JP Sollinger), Vienna 1856, p. 16 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Karl Felix Halm :  Age, Franz Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 363 f.
• Wilhelm Kratz SJ:  Alter, Franz Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 218 ( digitized version ).