Johann Kaspar Zeuss

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Johann Kaspar Zeuss

Johann Kaspar Zeuss (born July 22, 1806 in Vogtendorf ; † November 10, 1856 there ) was a German philologist . He wrote a Celtic grammar and is considered the founder of Celtology .

biography

Zeuss was born as the second son of the master mason husband Michael Zeuss and Margaretha, née Hanna was born in Vogtendorf (now a district of Kronach ) and was to become a priest at the request of his parents. But he decided to live as a scholar. At his school in Bamberg and while studying in Munich , he developed a particular interest in history and linguistic research.

After graduating with the philological examination for grammar school teaching, he taught at the old grammar school in Munich from 1832 . His book The Origin of the Baiern from the Marcomanni , published in 1837, earned him an honorary doctorate from the University of Erlangen . In the same year Zeuss moved to the Speyer Lyceum as a professor of history . In Speyer he was a member of the board of directors of the Palatinate Historical Society in 1842 and wrote for him the works Traditiones possessionesque Wizenburgenses (1842) and The free imperial city Speier described locally before its destruction according to documented sources (1843). In 1847 he received a professorship at the University of Munich , which he gave up after a short time. For health reasons, he withdrew from teaching in 1848 and worked as a teacher at the Lyceum in Bamberg , but remained connected to the Munich Academy as a foreign member. In 1853 his most important work, the monumental Grammatica Celtica , was published, which was to establish his fame. Zeuss died after a long illness in Vogtendorf near Kronach.

From 1842 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1855 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and in 1856 in the Prussian Academy of Sciences .

Appreciation

Zeuss was a classical scholar with a wide range of knowledge, which enabled him to combine philology with history and ethnology . His German studies made him realize that the Celtic languages ​​had to be saved from extinction through scientific documentation.

To get to original sources - especially in Old Irish - Zeuss traveled to Karlsruhe , Würzburg , St. Gallen , Milan , London and Oxford and made copies there. He was interested in both old and young Celtic languages ​​and dialects. His Grammatica Celtica proved beyond any doubt that the Celtic languages ​​belong to the Indo-European language family , and put Celtic philology on a scientific basis.

After Zeuss's death, his main work was revised and re-edited in 1871 by Hermann Ebel in Berlin . The estate is in the Bavarian State Library.

Honors

In 1961 the then Oberrealschule von Kronach (since 1965: Gymnasium. Kaspar-Zeuss-Gymnasium ) was named after Zeuss. A street and a fountain are also named after him in Kronach. In Bamberg and Speyer, too, one street each bears his name. In addition, the Johann Kaspar Zeuss Prize is awarded every year in Kronach for special academic achievements by local students and doctoral candidates .

In 2006 a special postage stamp was issued in Ireland for his 200th birthday and 150th anniversary of his death . In June 2006 the city of Kronach organized an international symposium in cooperation with the University of Bamberg .

Publications

  • The Germans and the neighboring tribes . With Ignaz Joseph Lentner, Munich 1837 ( digitized version )
  • The origin of the Bavarians from the Marcomanni has been proven against previous assumptions . Munich 1839
  • Traditiones possessionesque Wizenburgenses . Speyer 1842
  • According to documented sources, the free imperial city of Speier is described locally before its destruction . Speyer 1843
  • Grammatica Celtica e monumentis vetustis tam Hibernicae linguae quam Britannicae dialecti cambricae cornicae armoricae nec non e gallicae priscae reliquiis construxit JC Zeuss . Leipzig 1853

literature

  • Edward Schröder :  Zeuss, Kaspar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 132-136.
  • Hans Hablitzel : Prof. Dr. Johann Kaspar Zeuss. Founder of Celtology and historian from Vogtendorf / Upper Franconia. 1806-1856 . Stürzel & Fehn, Kronach 1987. ISBN 3-89176-003-5 .
  • Hans Hablitzel: Johann Kaspar Zeuss. In: Akademie aktuell - journal of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. No. 04/2006, pp. 24–28, full text (PDF)
  • Hans Hablitzel and David Stifter (eds.), Johann Kaspar Zeuss in the cultural and linguistic context (19th to 21st centuries), Kronach July 21st - July 23rd, 2006 (= Celtic Research 2). Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2007
  • Rüdiger Schmitt:  Zeuss, Johann Kaspar. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 34, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-018389-4 , pp. 518-522.

Web links

Wikisource: Johann Kaspar Zeuss  - sources and full texts
Commons : Johann Kaspar Zeuß  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

photos

  • Funerary inscription in the Kronach cemetery

  • Epitaph

  • Monument in the cemetery

  • Monument at the city moat in Kronach

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Löhner: Fischbach and his parish . Kronach 1996, p. 50.
  2. ↑ Friedrich Johannes Hildenbrand: Festschrift for the inauguration of the Historisches Museum der Pfalz, on May 22, 1910 , Speyer 1910, pp. 25–43.
  3. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 267.
  4. ^ Members of the previous academies. Johann Kaspar Zeuss. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on June 30, 2015 .
  5. ^ Proof of estate in the Bavarian State Library
  6. ^ History of the Kaspar-Zeuss-Gymnasium, Kronau.
personal data
SURNAME Zeuss, Johann Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Celtologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Vogtendorf
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1856
Place of death Vogtendorf