Kārlis Mīlenbahs

Karlis Mīlenbahs (also: mu (h) lenbach , mill brook or Mīlenbachs ) (born January 6, ^jul. / 18th January  1853 ^greg. In Kandava , Courland Governorate ; † 27. March 1916 in Võru , Estonia ) was an educator , Homer -Translator and the first Latvian native language linguist .

Life

Kārlis Mīlenbahs studied classical philology at the University of Dorpat from 1876 to 1880 , but could not stay at the university because of his poverty.

His first publication - an article in issue 2 of the journal Pagalms (German: Hof ) - appeared under the pseudonym Līgciemnieks (German: Schwankendörfler ).

He taught from 1881 to 1889 at the elementary school in Talsi , then until 1895 at the German-speaking grammar school in Jelgava and from autumn 1895 at the Riga Alexander grammar school.

Grave in the Great Cemetery in Riga

He was the author of over a hundred academic articles on language in Latvian, Russian and German and a member of the Latvian Literary Society . His main achievement, however, was a Latvian-German dictionary , which to this day is the most important lexicographical work on the Latvian language. The four volumes were printed posthumously in Riga between 1923 and 1932 . The dictionary was expanded and completed by Jānis Endzelīns , with whom Mīlenbahs also wrote other works, such as a larger Latvian grammar. The argument with Rainis resulted in an important essay on Latvian in literature. Mīhlenbahs translated a. a. the Odyssey (1890–1895).

Honors

The high school in Kandava was named Karl Mühlenbach High School in 1936 (Latvian: Kārļa Mīlenbaha vidusskola ). After Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 , the Russian side did not attach any importance to the maintenance of the Latvian language and so from 1945 the school was run as a Kandava high school with no name added. It was not until 1996 that the school bears the name of Kārlis Mīlenbahs again.

literature

• Karl Mühlenbach: K. Muelenbacha Latviešu valodas vārdnīca / K. Mühlenbach's Latvian-German dictionary . Edited, supplemented and continued by Jānis Endzelīns . Latvian Ministry of Education, Riga 1923–1932. 4 volumes.
• Album academicum of the Imperial University of Dorpat , Dorpat 1889, p. 717.

Web links

• Mīlenbahs 'and Endzelīns' Latvian-German Dictionary (The page is in Latvian, “demo” in both fields gives access to entries beginning with “A” or “Ā”; registration is free of charge, but the form is only Latvian available.)
• Website of the Kandava Karl-Mühlenbach-Oberschule (in Latvian)