Johann Christoph Adelung, from a portrait by Anton Graff

Johann Christoph Adelung (8 August 1732 – 10 September 1806) was a German grammarian and philologist. Anton Graff (born November 18, 1736 in Winterthur, died June 22, 1813 in Dresden) was a famous portrait artist. ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... Events February 23 - First performance of Handels Orlando, in London June 9 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. ... September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about grammar from a linguistic perspective. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ...

He was born at Spantekow, in Pomerania, and educated at the public schools of Anklam and Klosterbergen, and the University of Halle. In 1759 he was appointed professor at the gymnasium of Erfurt, but relinquished this situation two years later and went to reside in a private capacity at Leipzig, where he devoted himself to philological researches. In 1787 he received the appointment of principal librarian to the elector of Saxony at Dresden, where he continued to reside until his death in 1806. Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. ... Map of Germany showing Anklam Anklam or Anclam is a town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, situated on the banks of the Peene river, 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, and 85 km northwest of Stettin, on the railway to Stralsund. ... The Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg is located in the German cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and Wittenberg. ... Mariendom and the Severikirche Erfurt is a city in central Germany. ... [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... List of Dukes, Electors, and Kings of Saxony, 880-1918 The original Duchy of Saxony was in Northern Germany, roughly corresponding to the modern German state of Lower Saxony and Westphalia. ... Dresden (Sorbian: Drježdźany; etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest) is the capital city of the German Federal State of Saxony and situated in a valley on the River Elbe. ...

The writings of Adelung are very voluminous. By means of his excellent grammars, dictionary and various works on German style, he contributed greatly towards rectifying the orthography, refining the idiom and fixing the standard of his native tongue. His German dictionary Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart (1774-1786) bears witness to the patient spirit of investigation which Adelung possessed in so remarkable a degree, and to his intimate knowledge of the history of the different dialects on which modern German is based. No man before Jakob Grimm did so much for the language of Germany. Shortly before his death he issued Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde (1806). The hint of this work appears to have been taken from a publication with a similar title, published by Konrad von Gesner (1516-1565) in 1555; but the plan of Adelung was much more extensive. Unfortunately he did not live to finish what he had undertaken. The first volume, which contains the Asiatic languages, was published immediately after his death; the other two were issued under the superintendence of Johann Severin Vater (1771-1826). Of the very numerous works by Adelung the following may be noted: Directorium diplomaticum (Meissen, 1802); Deutsche Sprachlehre fur Schulen (Berlin, 1781), and the periodical, Magazin für die deutsche Sprache (Leipzig, 1782-1784). Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863), German philologist and mythologist, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel. ... Conrad von Gesner (Konrad von Gesner, Conrad Gessner, Conradus Gesnerus) (26 March 1516-13 December 1565) was a Swiss naturalist. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The article is available here: [1]