Johann Friedrich Minssen

Johann Friedrich Minssen (born July 24, 1823 in Jever ; † August 20, 1901 in Versailles / France ) was a German linguist.

Life

Minssen was born as the son of the teacher Friedrich Bernhard Minssen (1785–1844) and his second wife Wilhelmine born. Peters (1800–1834) born in Jever. He attended the Mariengymnasium there and studied theology and philology at the universities of Jena and Berlin from 1842 to 1845 . He passed his first theological exam in 1846 in Oldenburg . Since he was very linguistically gifted, Minssen, on the advice of Heinrich Georg Ehrentraut, who was distantly related to him, stayed for a few days on Heligoland in the summer of 1846 and then in Saterland from October 7 to December 22, 1846 and was the first to conduct research on a scientific basis. the Sater Frisian language .

In the summer of 1847 Minssen left Friesland to accept an invitation from a college friend who was a tutor in the environment of the statesman John Russell to come to England. On the way there he met one of his professors from Jena in Brussels . This advised Minssen to first perfect his knowledge of the French language in Paris in order to increase his chances of a job as a tutor. In Paris he then took the position of tutor for German in the family of the former Jamaican plantation owner Isaac Higgin and his wife Margaret nee. Syms in Le Havre . In this position he also met their younger daughter Margaret (1827-1913), whom he married on April 21, 1851. Presumably because of this, Minssen gave up the plans to go to England and stayed in France as a German teacher. He obtained the Certificat d'aptitude at the Sorbonne and then initially worked at high schools in Limoges and Nantes . In 1851 he got a job at the Lycée Hoche in Versailles. In 1863 he also became a German teacher at the Saint-Cyr military school . In 1871 he became a French citizen. In 1885 he retired, but worked as an assistant teacher in Saint-Cyr until 1898.

Versailles lived Minssen with his family a house in the Rue de Provence 18. During the armistice negotiations at the end of the Franco-German War inhabited Otto von Bismarck in January 1871, the house next door with the number 20th

The young Winston Churchill stayed with Minssen in Versailles for about a month in 1891/92. One of Minssen's sons, Bernard Jules Minssen (1861-1924), had recently been appointed to teach modern languages ​​at Harrow School , where Churchill was also taught. Since a good knowledge of French was a prerequisite for admission to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , Bernhard Minssen took Churchill to his parents' house in France over Christmas 1881 to work with him on his knowledge of French. He stayed there until January 18, 1882.

plant

Minssen published the first results of his research on Sater Frisian in the Frisian Archives in 1849 and 1854 and also used them in 1865 for his doctorate in Jena. Another part was made available by Minssen Ludwig Strackerjan , who then published it in 1867 in a High German translation. Other parts of Minssen's notes were initially thought to be lost, but were found again in the 20th century and published by the Fryske Akademy in 1965 and 1970 . More Saterland material from Minssen was later discovered in Ehrentraut's estate. In 1999, Pyt Kramer and Theo Griep published these works, which included historical essays, essays on pronunciation and songs.

Minssen also translated numerous German books into French. On behalf of the French government, he wrote a study on German secondary and university education and published two German-French dictionaries on military science. For his services he was made a Knight (1875) and Officer (1894) of the Legion of Honor in France .

family

Johann Friedrich Minssen and his wife Margaret Syms born. Higgin had six sons and two daughters. The eldest son Friedrich Johann died during the Franco-Prussian War in Tours of an illness that he contracted while working in a field hospital.

Publications

• Comparative representation of the sound and inflection relationships of the still living New Friesian dialects and their relationship to Old Frisian. Published in: Friesisches Archiv, I. 1849. pp. 165–276.
• Messages from the Saterland. Published in: Friesisches Archiv, II. 1854. pp. 135–227.
• Études sur l'instruc tion secondaire et supérieure en Allemagne. Paris. 1866.
• Superstition and legends from the Duchy of Oldenburg. Published by Ludwig Strackerjan. Oldenburg. 1867.
• Termes, sujets et dialogues mili taires en français et en allemand. Paris. 1873. 2nd edition: 1903.
• Dictionnaire des sciences militaires allemand-français. Paris. 1880.
• Messages from the Saterland. Edited by Pyt Kramer and Theo Griep. 3 vols. Leeuwarden. 1965 and 1970.

literature

• Hans Friedl: Johann Friedrich Minssen. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 466-467 ( online ).
• P. K [ramer]: Ju Hondschrift and here story . Published in: Johann Friedrich Minssen, 3rd end. Appendix (Fryske Akademy No. 372). Ljouwert. 1970. pp. 188-190.
• Patrick V. Stiles: Johann Friedrich Minssen: Frisian Scholar, Neighbor of Bismarck, and Host of the Young Churchill . In: Kees Dekker ea, eds, Northern Voices. Essays on Old Germanic and Related Topics, Offered to Professor Tette Hofstra , Peeters, Leuven, 2008, pp. 229–240 ( online ).

Web links

• Digitized images of Minssen manuscripts

Individual evidence

1. ^ Patrick V. Stiles: Johann Friedrich Minssen: Frisian Scholar, Neighbor of Bismarck, and Host of the Young Churchill . In: Kees Dekker ea, eds, Northern Voices. Essays on Old Germanic and Related Topics, Offered to Professor Tette Hofstra , Peeters, Leuven, 2008, pp. 229–240 ( online ).