Martin Lehnert (English studies)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Lehnert (born  June 20, 1910 in Neukölln ; †  March 4, 1992 in Berlin-Köpenick ) was a German Anglicist , Medievalist and Shakespeare researcher . He worked from 1948 to 1951 as a professor of English studies at the University of Greifswald and from 1951 to 1975 as a professor of English and American studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin . In addition, from 1963 to 1985 he was President of the German Shakespeare Society in Weimar .

Life

Martin Lehnert was born in 1910 in Neukölln, which at that time was not yet incorporated into Berlin , and graduated from high school there in 1930 . He then completed from 1930 to 1935 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University studying English Studies , German Studies , Romance Studies and Philosophy . In 1936 he passed the state examination in English , German and French . In the same year he also obtained his doctorate with an English thesis at the University of Berlin and took up a position as an assistant or from 1939 as a senior assistant in the English department of the University of Berlin. From 1937 he was a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).

In 1944 he received his habilitation in English in Berlin . After the end of the Second World War , he took on an extraordinary professorship for English studies at the University of Greifswald from 1948 to 1951 . From 1951 to 1975 he then worked as a full professor of English and American studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin, including from 1957 to 1961 as dean of the philosophy faculty. From 1953 he acted as editor of the "Journal for English and American Studies". In addition, he was President from 1963 to 1985 and then Honorary President of the Weimar- based German Shakespeare Society . He died in Berlin in 1992.

Scientific work

Martin Lehnert's academic work focused on language and grammar theory , dialectology , historical linguistics and sociolinguistics as well as lexicology and lexicography . His private collection of around 2,200 volumes, which contains numerous letters from his correspondence partners, was acquired as part of the estate of the University Library of Chemnitz University of Technology and has been indexed there since April 2008 as part of a project funded by the German Research Foundation.

Awards and commemorations

Martin Lehnert belonged starting from 1961 as a full member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and received in 1964 along with Robert Weimann and Anselm locks the National Prize of East Germany . In 1960 he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver and in 1975 in gold. Since 1997, the German Shakespeare Society has awarded him the Martin Lehnert Prize to commemorate students and young scholars who “dealt in an outstanding manner with Shakespeare's work and impact or with the culture of Shakespeare's time and its reception”.

Works (selection)

  • English history of sounds 1400-1950. Two volumes. Berlin 1950
  • Old English elementary book. Berlin 1939 (tenth edition 1990)
  • Poetry and Prose of the Anglo-Saxons. Two volumes. Halle 1956, 1960 and 1969
  • Declining dictionary of contemporary English. Leipzig 1971, 1973 and 1983
  • Slavic vocabulary in English. Berlin 1977
  • Basic English vocabulary. Leipzig 1971 (eighth edition 1990)
  • Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. Leipzig 1981, 1987, 1989 and 1995 (as translator and editor)
  • Beowulf. An old English heroic epic. Leipzig 1986 and 1988, Stuttgart 2004 (as translator and editor)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , pp. 197-198.
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland , November 12, 1960, p. 2
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland, August 21, 1975, p. 5
personal data
SURNAME Lehnert, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Anglicist, Medievalist and Shakespeare researcher
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Neukölln
DATE OF DEATH March 4th 1992
Place of death Berlin-Koepenick