Philipp Karl Buttmann (5 December 1764 – 21 June 1829) was a German philologist of French Huguenot ancestry (original family name "Boudemont"), born in Frankfurt am Main.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/Philipp_Carl_Buttmann_portrait_-_Dorotheenst%C3%A4dtischer_Friedhof_-_Berlin%2C_Germany_-_DSC00304.jpg/220px-Philipp_Carl_Buttmann_portrait_-_Dorotheenst%C3%A4dtischer_Friedhof_-_Berlin%2C_Germany_-_DSC00304.jpg)
He was educated in his native town and at the University of Göttingen, where he was a student of Christian Gottlob Heyne. In 1789 he obtained an appointment in the Royal Library of Berlin, and for a period of time, edited Spener's Journal. In 1800 he became a professor at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin, a post he held for eight years. In 1806 he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences as a member of its historical-philological section. In 1811 he became first librarian at the Royal Library.[1][2]
Published works
editButtmann's writings gave a great impetus to the scientific study of the Greek language. His Griechische Grammatik (1792) went through many editions, and was translated into English.[3][4] His Lexilogus, a valuable study on some words of difficulty occurring principally in the poems of Homer and Hesiod, was published in 1818–1825, and was later translated into English and published as Lexilogus: or, a critical examination of the meaning and etymology of numerous Greek works and passages intended principally for Homer and Hesiod (1861).[5][6]
Buttmann's other works were:
- Ausfuhrliche griechische Sprachlehre (2 vols, 1819–1827).
- Mythologus, a collection of essays (1828–1829).
- editions of some classical authors, the most important being Demosthenes' In Midiam (1823).[3]
- the continuation of Spalding's edition of Quintilian.[7]
References
edit- ^ ADB: Buttmann, Philipp Karl @ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
- ^ A History of Classical Scholarship: by John Edwin Sandys.
- ^ a b WorldCat Identities Most widely held works by Ph Buttmann
- ^ OCLC WorldCat 'Philipp Buttmann's Griechische Grammatik
- ^ Google Books Lexilogus:
- ^ HathiTrust Digital Library Lexilogus, oder, Beiträge zur griechischen Wort-Erklärung
- ^ A History of Classical Philology by Harry Thurston Peck
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Buttmann, Philipp Karl". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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