Julius Hoffory

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from left: Karl Verner , Valdemar Steffensen (standing) and Julius Hoffory (before 1896)

Johann Peter Julius Hoffory (born February 9, 1855 in Aarhus , † April 12, 1897 in Berlin-Westend ) was a German - Danish Nordic philologist , Germanist and phonetician . Hoffory was the first professor for Scandinavian studies at Berlin University .

Life

Hoffory's family immigrated to Denmark from Hungary shortly before he was born . He attended grammar school in Aarhus and already stood out there for his linguistic talent. From 1873 he studied linguistics at the University of Copenhagen . He initially dealt with Sanskrit , but soon switched to Nordic philology. Konráð Gíslason , Svend Grundtvig and Ludwig Wimmer were teaching in Copenhagen at this time , and they had a great influence on him. What was decisive, however, was his acquaintance with the somewhat older linguist Karl Verner , with whom he had personal contact and exchanged lively letters. In 1878 he passed the master’s examination .

From 1879 to 1883 Hoffory continued his studies at the universities in Berlin and Strasbourg . During this time he published his first scientific papers in Danish and German journals. At the Berlin University he attended lectures by the Germanist Karl Müllenhoff and in Strasbourg seminars by the philologist Wilhelm Scherer , who had founded the Germanic seminar at the university in 1872. He supported Müllenhoff with the writing of the fifth volume of Deutsche Altertumskunde , with Scherer he learned methods of literary historical research. He continued Scherer's explanations of the Edda in a series of essays, which he later combined as Edda studies in one volume.

In 1883 he received his doctorate at the University of Copenhagen with the dissertation Oldnordiske Consonantstudier for Dr. phil. In the same year he completed his habilitation as the first private lecturer for Nordic philology at the Berlin University . He also gave lectures on phonetics . His habilitation thesis Old Norse Consonant Studies was a German translation of his doctoral thesis. He held his lectures in a building on Dorotheenstrasse , where he only had the Müllenhoff library as the basis for Scandinavian studies. According to the Germanist Andreas Heusler , who was one of Hoffory's students, the stock of Nordic works was very modest. The Icelandic sagas were incomplete and some of the Nordic law books were missing. Heusler later wrote the article on Julius Hoffory for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie .

In 1884 Hoffory published the pamphlet Professor Sievers and the principles of language physiology . In it he defended Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke's system of speech sounds , which he himself expanded, against the linguist Eduard Sievers . In 1885 he was the editor of Die Lieder der alten Edda, in German by the Brothers Grimm . In the 1880s Hoffory became a great admirer of Henrik Ibsen , whom he praised as an important realist. As a translator of Ibsen's work Die Frau vom Meer into German and personally dealing with the press and the stage, Hoffory successfully promoted the Norwegian in Germany. In January 1887 an extraordinary professorship in Nordic philology and general phonetics was created for him at the Berlin University. In 1888, together with Paul Schlenther , he published Ludvig Holberg's works in the Danish Schaubühne series in old German translations with a knowledgeable introduction to the German reception of Holberg. One of his main accomplishments was the establishment of the Nordic Library , a collection of translations of Scandinavian literature. Hofforys was particularly interested in the Swedish national poet Carl Michael Bellman .

At the end of 1889 Hoffory fell seriously ill with typhus and was never able to cure the disease. As a result, his physical and mental abilities deteriorated more and more. In 1893, as terminally ill, he had to visit the newly founded private insane asylum in Westend near Berlin . Julius Hoffory died there on April 12, 1897 at the age of 42. He was a member of the Berlin Germanist bar and in 1885 a founding member of the Goethe Society in Weimar . Part of his written estate is in the university archive of the Humboldt University in Berlin. Hoffory remained unmarried.

Publications

author

  • Oldislandske læsestykker til skolebrug. Copenhagen 1877.
  • Toneless l and n in Old Norse. Berlin 1878. ( digitized version )
  • The Heinersdorfer rune stone. Berlin 1880. ( digitized version )
  • On the textual criticism of Íslendingabók. Berlin 1882. ( digitized version )
  • Oldnordiske consonantstudier. ( Dissertation ) Copenhagen 1883.
  • Old Norse Consonant Studies. ( Habilitation thesis ) Göttingen 1884.
  • Professor Sievers and the Principles of Speech Physiology a polemic. Berlin 1884. ( digitized version )
  • The Germanic sky god. Goettingen 1888.
  • Edda Studies. Berlin 1889.

Editor and translator

  • The songs of the old Edda. German by the Brothers Grimm. as editor, Berlin 1885.
  • Danish Schaubühne: The most exquisite comedies by Freiherr Ludwig von Holberg. as editor with Paul Schlenther , Berlin 1888.
  • A visit. Play in two acts. by Edvard Brandes , as translator, Berlin 1889.
  • The woman from the sea. Play in five acts. by Henrik Ibsen , as translator, Berlin 1889.
  • Master Gert Westfaler or The Talkative Barber. Comedy in an act by Ludvig Holberg as translator with Paul Schlenther, Berlin 1893.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hoffory, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffory, Johann Peter Julius (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Danish Scandinavian and Germanist
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Aarhus
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 1897
Place of death Berlin-Westend