Wilhelm Schott (Orientalist)

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Wilhelm Schott

Wilhelm Schott (born September 3, 1802 in Mainz , †  January 21, 1889 in Berlin ) was a German orientalist , sinologist and Finnougrist .

Life

Wilhelm Christian Schott was born the son of the businessman Johann Christian Schott and his wife Elisabeth (née Wahl, used by Holzmann). A different date of birth appears in some sources and documents, but the year 1802 is now considered certain. After graduating from school, he first studied theology in Gießen from 1819 , but moved to Halle in 1821 to devote himself to language studies there. His main interest was the oriental languages ​​and in 1823 he received his doctorate with a thesis on the Sunna .

In the same year, 1823, two Chinese who had come to Germany to study were entrusted to him to look after him. This aroused his interest in Chinese , so that he now turned to Sinology . In 1826 he completed his habilitation in Halle with a thesis on Chinese.

In 1830 Schott moved to Berlin, where he was initially responsible for the Chinese book collection in the Royal Library. In 1832 he completed his habilitation for the Berlin University with a lecture on the nature of Chinese writing. From 1833 he held lectures on the Chinese language and philosophy at the Berlin University. In 1838 he received an extraordinary professorship there “for the subject of Chinese, Tatar and other East Asian languages”.

In 1840 Schott received an offer to Saint Petersburg , which he refused. He should have pledged to stay there all his life, but Russia's capital struck him as "a bit desperately cold", as he wrote to his colleague Hans Conon von der Gabelentz in October 1840 .

Schott stayed in Berlin for the rest of his life, where he held lectures well into old age (winter semester 1883/84). In 1841 he was appointed a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences - in the same year as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm , with whom he was collegially connected.

In 1843 Schott was elected honorary member of the Estonian Scholarly Society in Tartu , and in 1850 a corresponding member of the Finnish Literary Society in Helsinki . From 1858 he was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest . In 1873 Schott became a member of the German Oriental Society , from which he resigned in 1884. Since 1872 Schott was an honorary member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory .

In 1861 Schott married Elise Wilhelmine Auguste Meyer. There were no children out of marriage.

Scientific activity

Teaching

In his first years in Halle, Schott's teaching activities focused on Hebrew and Arabic , as there were hardly any interested parties in Chinese. Chinese events have been recorded in Berlin since 1833. At the same time, courses in Turkish and Tatar began. Manchurian , Mongolian , Persian , Tibetan and Japanese were soon added. These included lectures as well as language courses and grammatical exercises, the latter often being given in private.

From the winter semester of 1846/1847, Schott broadened his range of topics to include the Finno-Ugric languages ​​by offering lectures on Kalevala and the Finnish language . From now on there were courses in Finno-Ugric Studies every year in Berlin, although this subject was not part of Schott's teaching assignment and as such it did not yet exist.

research

Through his numerous publications in the sinological and orientalist field, Schott became one of the most important representatives of these disciplines in German-speaking countries. A total of more than 600 publications are known from Schott - from monographs of several hundred pages to short twenty-line reviews. About a third of these publications deal with Finno-Ugrist topics, which is why Schott's classification as a Finno-Ugrist seems justified.

His monograph from 1836, entitled “An experiment on the Tatar languages”, is important for Finno-Ugric studies, as Schott here points out the typological similarity between the Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages. Schott's treatise “De lingua Tschuwaschorum” from 1841 is also important, as it is the first time that he provides evidence that Chuvash does not belong to the group of Finno-Ugric, but to the Turkic languages.

In his work “About the Alta'ish or Finnish-Tatar language gender” from 1849, Schott went into detail on the parallels between these two language families. Thus, his reputation as the founder of the hypothesis of the Ural-Altaic primordial relationship is certainly justified. Outside of linguistics, Schott has also dealt intensively with literary and cultural studies.

Editorial activity

Schott was involved in two important publication organs, in which he also included many of his contributions. On the one hand this was the archive for scientific customers of Russia by Georg Adolf Erman , on the other hand the magazine for literature from abroad . In the former he published scientific articles and often provided translations from Russian. His contribution to science therefore consists not only in independent research, but also in communicating foreign research results to a German audience. In the magazine he published more popular scientific articles, literary reviews or translations. These two organs were particularly important for Schott's Finno-Ugric contributions, as approximately seven eighths of his relevant contributions appeared in these two periodicals.

Schott as a mediator of Estonian and Finnish literature to Germany

Although Hungarian was the first Finno-Ugric language that Schott had studied, his later publications clearly showed a preference for Finnish and Estonian topics. Schott has written 70 articles on Finnish, a good dozen of which deal with Kalevala and Finnish folk poetry in general. He has also reviewed current Finnish literature and also translated Finnish fairy tales into German for the magazine .

There are around 50 articles by Schott on Estonian literature , which can also be representations of folklore or just a magazine review. But also through the mere review of publications from Estonia Schott became the mediator of this literature, which was previously unknown in Germany. He dealt intensively with Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald's epic Kalevipoeg , to which he even devoted his own study, which is still one of the most detailed German-language treatises on the subject.

Trivia

Dispute with Heinrich Julius Klaproth and Anton Schiefner

Schott had a sharp pen and was not afraid of conflict. This has brought him many an enemy who may have prevented his academic advancement, but as he got older he didn't care anymore. After he must have sharply criticized Julius Klaproth's "Supplément au dictionnaire chinois du Père Basile de Glemona" (Paris 1819) in 1826, Schott's Confucius translation was devastated by Klaproth . Later Schott had only ridicule for Klaproth, who in his opinion “is a highly unreliable leader in Altai territory. Anyone who is convinced of the gross ignorance of this writer in Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, and even in the Tatar language class, cannot suppress a smile ... "

With Anton Schiefner, Schott probably fell apart in connection with the Finnish Kalevala. Schott had published on this and might have liked to have done a German translation himself. But Schiefner got ahead of him, and in 1852 his translation was published. She was criticized quite severely by August Ahlqvist , and then by Schott, who may have used the opportunity to "get back on his rival". In any case, Schott's review of Schiefner's translation was very negative and communication between the two was definitely disrupted.

Quotes

Schott wrote of Klaproth's attempts to etymologize some words in Mongolian, which, according to Klaproth, only knew the words for 'horse' and 'ox' in local pet names:

“According to his theory, one should either withdraw cattle from the original Mongols, or assume that this nation originally only owned the cut bull, the ox, which by virtue of a twofold miracle reproduced by itself until finally the Turks helped out with bulls and cows - an interesting problem for naturalists! "

- Wilhelm Schott : Experiment on the Tatar languages

In his first review of the negotiations of the learned Estonian society , Schott writes that the content of the treatises is

"For that very reason, consistently attractive [...], because it offers us Western European readers in particular almost nothing but new things, and like a beneficial, fresh breath of air penetrates the somewhat swamped atmosphere of the familiar and everyday."

- Wilhelm Schott : Negotiations of the learned Esthnian society at Dorpat

Schott writes about the Baltic Finnish folk poetry:

“The legends of the Estonians = people are a gallery of noble pictures, but surrounded by black ribbon. Its keynote is a melancholy, deeply emotional, but by no means slack, longing for lost, happy independence. [...] After these lovely phantasy creations had lived for many centuries among poor serfs in the vicinity of Lake Peipus, they now finally step onto the scene of the great, hand in hand with the sisterly spirits of neighboring Finland European world and perhaps also bring a refreshing stream of air from their side into the swamped and dull atmosphere of our present. "

- Wilhelm Schott : Kalewi = poeg (the son of Kalew), an Estonian legend

How poetic Schott was can be seen from a passage from a Finnish story by Julius Krohn , which he translated and which pays homage to the Finn ogrist Matthias Alexander Castrén :

“Once, on my lonely hike, I came to the far north, to the country whose very name already inspires horror - to Siberia. I saw the Obj rolling its muddy waters to the cold bosom of the Arctic Ocean, where death awaits it. On the bank stood a Samoyed = yurt, half sunk into the ground. The whole area was a terrible dead end. The snow had spread its white blanket over heather and melancholy swamps and reflected the glow of the northern lights. You saw nothing living, you heard nothing but the howling of starving wolves, which mingled with the plaintive melodies of the north wind. The sun had fled to more blessed lands for a long time and a grave darkness would have reigned here, had it not been for my glow from time to time falling on the dead hallway, and if the northern lights had not let their trembling rays shoot across the firmament from time to time. "

- Wilhelm Schott : Finnish tales of the moon

Works

Monographs (selection)

  • Works by the Chinese sages Kung-Fu-Dsü and his students. First part Lün-Yü. Hall 1826
  • Experiment about the Tatar languages . Berlin 1836
  • Directory of the Chinese and Manchu-Chungus books and manuscripts in the Berlin library . Berlin 1840
  • De Lingua Tschuwaschorum: dissertatio. Berolini 1841
  • About Buddhism in High Asia and China . Berlin 1844
  • Oldest news from Mongols and Tatars . Berlin 1846
  • About the Altaic or Finnish-Tatar language gender . Berlin 1849
  • The kingdom of Karachatei or Li-Liao . Berlin 1849
  • About the (high Asian) legend of Gesser-Chan . Berlin 1851
  • The number word in the Czech language class . Berlin 1852
  • The Finnish legend of Kullerwo . Berlin 1852
  • Draft of a description of the Chinese literature . Berlin 1854
  • To assess the Annamite script and language . Berlin 1855
  • About the so-called Indochinese languages, especially Siamese . Berlin 1856
  • Chinese language teaching . Berlin 1857
  • The Cassia language . Berlin 1859
  • About the Estonian legend of Kalewi-poeg . Berlin 1863
  • About the real Kyrgyz . Berlin 1865
  • On the literature of Chinese Buddhism . Berlin 1873
  • On the Uighur question . 2 parts, Berlin 1874–1875
  • On Japanese poetry and verse . Berlin 1878
  • About the language of the Rong people in Sikkim . Berlin 1882

Article (selection)

  • The Hungarian (Magyar) language, in: Magazine for Foreign Literature 1839, pp. 617–618.
  • HCvd Gabelentz: Basics of Syrian grammar. Altenburg, 1841. 75 pages, in: Yearbooks for Scientific Criticism 1840, Dec., pp. 982–984.
  • Die Götter = und Zauberlehre der Finns, in: Magazin für die Literatur des Auslands 1842, pp. 343–344; 346; 350-351.
  • Ehstnische Volkssagen, in: Magazin für die Literatur des Auslands 1843, pp. 511-512.
  • About nationality and descent of the Finns, in: Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Geschichte 8 (1847), pp. 456-471.
  • About the Finnish epic Kalewala, according to R. Tengström, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 6 (1848), pp. 383-408.
  • Castrén's Cheremissische Sprachlehre, in: Archive for Scientific Customers of Russia 8 (1850), pp. 634–645.
  • Kalewala, the Finnish national epic, in: Archives for Scientific News from Russia 10 (1852), pp. 122-139.
  • The sons of the sun. An epic poem of the rags, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 12 (1853), pp. 54–61.
  • Epilogue to the article “The Sons of the Sun”, an epic poem by the Lapps, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 13 (1854), pp. 1–4.
  • Mythological Thiere der Hungarians, in: Magazine for the literature of foreign countries 1855, pp. 222-223; 226-227.
  • On the knowledge of the Lappish language, in: Magazin für die Literatur des Auslands 1856, pp. 83-84.
  • The Finnish people of the Votes. After August Ahlqvist, in: Magazin für die Literatur des Auslands 1856, pp. 425–426; 430-431.
  • Kalewi = poeg (the son of Kalew), an Estonian legend, in: Magazine for Foreign Literature 1857, pp. 457–458; 462-463.
  • Samoyed Samoyed and Siberian-Tatar fairy tale poetry, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 17 (1858), pp. 307-318.
  • Reindeer herding in Lapland, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 17 (1858), pp. 358–361.
  • Altay studies or research in the field of the Altai languages. I, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class , Berlin 1859, pp. 587–621.
  • The Mordvinen, their language and customs, in: Archive for Scientific News from Russia 19 (1860), pp. 556-566.
  • Altajische Studien II, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin 1861, pp. 153–176.
  • Religion of the pagan rags, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 20 (1861), pp. 167-180; 349-365.
  • Finnish literature from the last lustrum, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 21 (1862), pp. 43–51.
  • About Ahlqvist's Mokscha-Mordovian grammar, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 22 (1863), pp. 400-409.
  • Russian words in Finnish. By A. Ahlqvist, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 23 (1864), pp. 532-541.
  • The language of the forest Cheremiss, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 24 (1865), pp. 1–10.
  • Altay studies or research in the field of the Tatar (Turan) languages. Third issue, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin 1866, pp. 89–153.
  • The latest about the Woguls, in. Archive for Scientific News from Russia 25 (1867), pp. 72–80.
  • Altaic studies or inquiries into the Tatar (Turan) languages. 4th issue, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin 1869, pp. 267–307.
  • The Sampo of Finland and the Lappen magic drum, in: Magazine for the literature of foreign countries 1869, pp. 263-265.
  • Altay studies. [5. heft], in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin 1871, pp. 1–46.
  • Dr. F. Kreuzwald's seventieth birthday, in: Magazine for foreign literature 1874, pp. 415–416.
  • Land und Volk der Lappen, in: Negotiations of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory 1875 , Berlin, pp. 28–31.
  • About some animal names, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin 1876. 1–19.
  • About the stab rhyme in Finns and Tatars, in: Monthly reports of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , Berlin. 1877, pp. 232-238.
  • August Ahlquist: Ueber die Sprache der Nord-Ostjaken, in: Deutsche Literatur-Zeitung 3 (1882), p. 677.

literature

  • Hartmut Walravens:  Schott, Wilhelm Christian. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 497 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Cornelius Hasselblatt : Wilhelm Schott as a pioneer of German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), pp. 77–183.
  • Hartmut Walravens : Wilhelm Schott and the Royal Library, in: Peter Jörg Becker et al. (Ed.): Scrinium Berolinense. Tilo Brandis on his 65th birthday. Volume I. Berlin: Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage 2000, pp. 577-594.
  • Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802-1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001. (Oriental Studies Bibliographies and Documentations 13)
  • " Of course there was a special attraction in the difficulties to be overcome ..." Correspondence between the linguists Hans Conon von der Gabelentz, Wilhelm Schott and Anton Schiefner, 1834–1874. Edited and edited by Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2008 (Sinologica Coloniensia 26).
  • Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802–1889) in correspondence with Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, the creator of Kalevipoeg. Edited by Hartmut Walravens with the collaboration of Cornelius Hasselblatt, in: Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher. New episode 24 (2010/2011), pp. 10–65.
  • St. Petersburg and Livonia - and the development of Estonian literature. Anton Schiefner (1817–1879) and Friedrich R. Kreutzwald (1803–1882) in correspondence . Edited by Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2013.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott and the Royal Library, in: Peter Jörg Becker et al. (Ed.): Scrinium Berolinense. Tilo Brandis on his 65th birthday. Volume I. Berlin: Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage 2000, pp. 584, 591.
  2. ↑ Hartmut Walravens: Schott, Wilhelm (1802–1889), in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 23, 2007, p. 497.
  3. ^ Text in the employment decree of July 23, 1838, quoted from Franz H. Babinger: Schott, in: Hessische Biographien 1 (1918), p. 256.
  4. ^ "Of course, there was a special attraction in the difficulties to be overcome ..." Correspondence between the linguists Hans Conon von der Gabelentz, Wilhelm Schott and Anton Schiefner, 1834-1874. Edited and edited by Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2008, p. 51.
  5. ^ Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802-1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001, p. 116.
  6. ↑ A list of his courses between 1833 and 1884 with Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802–1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001, pp. 99–118.
  7. ^ Franz H. Babinger: Schott, in: Hessische Biographien 1 (1918), p. 255.
  8. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), pp. 93–96.
  9. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), pp. 95–96.
  10. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), p. 96.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Schott: attempt on the Tatar languages. Berlin: Verlag von Veit & Comp. 1836, p. 2.
  12. ^ Mikko Korhonen: Finno-Ugrian Language Studies in Finland 1828–1918. Helsinki 1986, p. 60.
  13. ^ Archives for Scientific Customers of Russia . 25 Bde. Berlin 1841–1867 ( digitized  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www-gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de  
  14. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), p. 101.
  15. ↑ They are reprinted by Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802-1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001, pp. 131–171.
  16. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Estonian literature in German translation. A reception story from the 19th to the 21st century. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2011, pp. 40–50.
  17. ↑ Wilhelm Schott: The Estonian say von Kalewi-Poeg , in treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-historical class , 1862, pp. 413-487, then as a separate in F. Dümmler in Comm. Berlin 1863.
  18. ^ "Of course, there was a special attraction in the difficulties to be overcome ..." Correspondence between the linguists Hans Conon von der Gabelentz, Wilhelm Schott and Anton Schiefner , 1834-1874. Edited and edited by Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2008, p. 14.
  19. ↑ Unfortunately, this review has not been preserved, cf. Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802-1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001, p. 16.
  20. ^ Heinrich Julius Klaproth: Dr. Wilhelm Schott's alleged translation of the works of Confucius from the original language. Leipzig, Paris: Ponthieu, Michelsen 1828.
  21. ↑ Wilhelm Schott: Altajische studies or studies on the areas of the Tatar (Turanian) spoke. Third issue, in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class , Berlin 1866, p. 142.
  22. ^ Kalewala, the national epic of the Finns, translated into German after the second edition by Anton Schiefner. J. C. Frenckell & Son, Helsingfors 1852.
  23. ↑ Granskning av Mr. Schiefner's öfversättning av Kalevala. Suomi 13. Helsinki 1853.
  24. ^ Gisbert Jänicke: Kalewaland. The Finnish epic and the problem of epic translation . Hamburg: Buske 1991, p. 28. (Writings from the Finland Institute in Cologne 15)
  25. ^ Wilhelm Schott: Ueber Schiefner's version of the Kalevala, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 16 (1857), pp. 115-124.
  26. ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), pp. 135-138.
  27. ^ Wilhelm Schott: attempt on the Tatar languages. Berlin: Verlag von Veit & Comp. 1836, p. 13.
  28. ^ Wilhelm Schott: Negotiations of the learned Esthnian Society in Dorpat, in: Archive for Scientific Customer of Russia 1 (1841), p. 455.
  29. ↑ Wilhelm Schott: Kalewi = poeg (the son of Kalev), an Estonian forecast, in: Magazine for literature abroad 1857 S. 457th
  30. ^ Wilhelm Schott: Finnish tales of the moon, in: Magazine for the literature of foreign countries 1863, p. 236.
  31. ↑ An almost complete list of publications can be found in Hartmut Walravens: Wilhelm Schott (1802–1889). Life and work of the orientalist. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001, pp. 15–80, additions to this in Cornelius Hasselblatt: Wilhelm Schott as a trailblazer for German Finno-Ugric studies, in: Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 62 (2014), pp. 172–179.
personal data
SURNAME Schott, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German orientalist, sinologist and Finnougrist
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1889
Place of death Berlin