Johann Jacob Spreng

Johann Rudolf Huber , portrait of Johann Jacob Spreng (around 1740/45).

Johann Jacob Spreng (born December 31, 1699 in Basel ; † May 24, 1768 ibid) was a Swiss theologian and professor of Greek at the University of Basel . He is known as the author of a handwritten collection of Basel dialect expressions.

After studying theology, Spreng became a private tutor, and in 1724 Charles VI. crowned imperial poet in Vienna and was later clergyman in Württemberg and the Palatinate . In 1746 he returned to Basel and in 1743 became an associate professor of eloquence and German poetry. In 1754 he became associate professor of Swiss history , in 1762 full professor of Greek .

In addition to these activities, he wrote a twenty-volume historical-critical dictionary of the German language under the title General German Glossary and on the other hand a collection of the Basel dialect vocabulary under the title Idioticon Rauracum or Basel dictionary . Both works were not printed during his lifetime; the manuscripts are in the Basel University Library . The latter was partially edited in 1888 and fully edited in 2014.

literature

• Barbara Schmid: Spreng, Johann Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Adolf Socin :  Spreng, Johann Jacob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 291-293.
• Adolf Socin: Johann Jakob Spreng. A Basel scholar and poet from the 18th century. In: Basler Jahrbuch 1893, pp. 227–250.
• Idioticon Rauracum or Basel German dictionary from 1768. Edition of the manuscript AA I 3 of the Basel University Library. Edited by Heinrich Löffler . Schwabe, Basel 2014. [With an introduction.]
• Heinrich Löffler : Das Idiotikon Rauracum by Johann Jakob Spreng - To the edition of the first Basel German dictionary. In: Schweizerisches Idiotikon. Annual report 2015. [Zurich 2016,], pp. 18–38 ( digitized version ).
• sda / Lena Stallmach: It would have been the largest German dictionary of its time. In: nzz online , May 9, 2018.
• Heinrich Löffler: Unprinted due to lack of interest: Largest German dictionary of the 18th century in Basel , [University of Basel], May 9, 2018.
• Erich Wenneker:  Spreng, Johann Jakob. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1 , Sp. 1310-1315.

Web links

• Works by and about Johann Jacob Spreng  in the German Digital Library
• Johann Jacob Spreng's estate in the Basel University Library
• The largest German dictionary of the 18th century in Basel remained unprinted. May 26, 2018, accessed May 31, 2018 .