Peter von Bohlen
Peter von Bohlen (born March 9, 1796 in Wüppels , Wangerland municipality , Friesland district ( Oldenburg ); † February 6, 1840 in Halle (Saale) ) was an orientalist and one of the pioneers of Sanskrit studies in Germany.
Life
Von Bohlen was the son of a poor farmer, had a tough youth as a day laborer, tailor journeyman, servant, waiter and clerk until he entered the scholarly school of the Johanneum in Hamburg through metric translations and his own poetic experiments, which he published in leaflets procured (1817).
Bohlen completed a four-year school course here, moved to the University of Halle in 1821, then, with the support of the Prussian Ministry, from 1822–24 the University of Bonn, to study Arabic under Georg Wilhelm Freytag and Arabic under August Wilhelm v. Schlegel to study Sanskrit. During his studies in Halle in 1821 he became a member of the fraternity source society.
After taking one semester of Franz Bopp's lessons in Berlin , he became a private lecturer in Königsberg in 1825 , an associate professor in 1826, and finally a full professor of oriental literature in 1828, and developed an important teaching activity in the field of oriental languages.
In the absence of a typesetter who knew Arabic, he had to set his habilitation thesis Carmen arabicum Amuli dictum (Königsberg 1826) himself, just as he had already set his Commentatio de Motenabbio (Bonn 1824) in Bonn .
His best-known book is the popular, captivatingly written work The Old India (Königsberg 1830, 2 volumes), which is completely antiquated due to recent research, but was highly stimulating in its time.
He has also published translations of two Sanskrit poems: Bhartriharis Sententiae (Leipzig 1833 and Hamburg 1835) and the cycle of seasons attributed to Kalidasa , Ritusanhâra, id est Tempestatum cyclus (Leipzig 1840); the first edition received many corrections by Weber and Schiefner.
His work The Genesis, explained historically and critically (Königsberg 1835) met with opposition. Of his smaller works, the text On the Origin of the Zend Language (Königsberg 1831) and a comparison of Lithuanian with Sanskrit (1830) should be emphasized.
Bohlen was a Freemason and at times a member of the lodge Zum Todtenkopf and Phoenix in Königsberg .
Having lived in Halle since 1839, he died there on February 6, 1840. His autobiography was edited by Johannes Voigt (2nd edition, Königsberg 1842).
literature
- Carl Woebcken : Jeverland. What has been and what has remained . Booklet 8 of the communications of the Jeverland antiquity and homeland association . Jever n.d. [1961?]. Pp. 171-173
- August Leskien : Bohlen, Peter von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 61.
- Johannes Voigt (Ed.): Autobiography of the ordentl. Professors of the oriental. Languages and literature at the University of Königsberg Dr. Peter von Bohlen . Printed by E. J. Dalkowski, 1841 ( full text in Google book search).
- Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 82–83.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Otto Hieber : History of the United Johannis Lodge to Todtenkopf and Phoenix zu Königsberg i. Pr. Königsberg 1897, self-published by the author
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bohlen, Peter von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German orientalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 9, 1796 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wangerland near Oldenburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 6, 1840 |
| Place of death | Halle (Saale) |