GEORG See also:

• FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )

FRIEDRICH See also:

• GEORG FRIEDRICH GROTEFEND (1775-1853)

GROTEFEND (1775-1853)  , See also:

• GERMAN
• GERMAN, DUTCH AND SCANDINAVIAN

German epigraphist, was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born at See also:

• MUNDEN
• MUNDEN, JOSEPH SHEPHERD (1758—1832)

Munden in See also:

• HANOVER
• HANOVER (Ger. Hannover)

Hanover on the 9th of See also:

• JUNE

June 1775 . He was educated partly in his native See also:

• TOWN

town, partly at See also:

• ILFELD

Ilfeld, where he remained till 1795, when he entered the university of See also:

• GOTTINGEN

Gottingen, and there became the friend of See also:

• HEYNE, CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB (1729–1812)

Heyne, Tychsen and See also:

• HEEREN, ARNOLD HERMANN LUDWIG (1760–1842)

Heeren . Heyne's recommendation procured for him an assistant mastership in the Gottingen gymnasium in 1797 . While there he published his See also:

• WORK

work De pasigraphia sive scriptura universali (1799), which led to his See also:

• APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment in 1803 as prorector of the gymnasium of See also:

• FRANKFORT

Frankfort-on-See also:

• MAIN (from the Aryan root which appears in " may " and " might," and Lat. magnus, great)
• MAIN (Lat. Moenus)

Main, and shortly afterwards as conrector . See also:

• GROTEFEND, GEORG FRIEDRICH (1775-1853)

Grotefend was best known during his lifetime as a Latin and See also:

• ITALIAN

Italian philologist, though the See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention he paid to his own See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language is shown by his Anfangsgrunde der deutschen Poesie, published in 1815, and his See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation of a society for investigating the German See also:

• TONGUE (O. Eng. lunge)

tongue in 1817 . In 1821 he became director of the gymnasium at Hanover, a See also:

• POST

post which he retained till his retirement in 1849 . In 1823–1824 appeared his revised edition of Wenck's Latin See also:

• GRAMMAR (from Lat. grammatica, sc. ars; Gr. ypaµ)

grammar, in two volumes, followed by a smaller grammar for the use of See also:

• SCHOOLS

schools in 1826; in 1835–1838 a systematic See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to explain the fragmentary remains of the Umbrian See also:

• DIALECT (from Gr. Sia stcror, conversation, manner of speaking, &aXeyec6at, to converse)

dialect, entitled Rudimenta linguae Umbricae ex inscriptionibus antiquis enodata (in eight parts); and in 1839 a work of similar See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character upon Oscan (Rudimenta linguae Oscae) . In the same See also:

• YEAR

year he published an important memoir on the coins of See also:

• BACTRIA (Bactriana)

Bactria, under the name of See also:

• DIE
• DIE (Fr. de, from Lat. datum, given)

Die Munzen der griechischen, parthischen, and indoskythischen K6nige von Bactrien and den Ldndern am See also:

• INDUS

Indus . He soon, however, returned to his favourite subject, and brought out a work in five parts, Zur Geographic and Geschichte vonAltitalien (184o–1842.) . Previously, in 1836, he had written a See also:

• PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to Wagenfeld's See also:

• TRANSLATION

translation of the See also:

• SPURIOUS

spurious Sanchoniathon of See also:

• PHILO
• PHILO, HERENNIUS

Philo Byblius, which was alleged to have been discovered in the preceding year in the Portuguese See also:

• CONVENT (Lat. conventus, from convenire, to come together)

convent of See also:

• SANTA

Santa Maria de Merinhao . But it was in the See also:

• EAST
• EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

East rather than in the See also:

• WEST
• WEST, BENJAMIN (1738-1820)
• WEST, NICHOLAS (1461-1533)

West that Grotefend did his greatest work . The See also:

• CUNEIFORM (from Lat. cuneus, a wedge)

cuneiform See also:

• INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

inscriptions of See also:

• PERSIA

Persia had for some See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time been attracting attention in See also:

• EUROPE

Europe; exact copies of them had been published by the See also:

• ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)
• ELDER (Gr. 1rpev(3iTepos)

elder See also:

• NIEBUHR, BARTHOLD GEORG (1776–1831)
• NIEBUHR, KARSTEN (1733-1815)

Niebuhr, who lost his eyesight over the work; and Grotefend's friend, Tychsen of See also:

• ROSTOCK

Rostock, believed t See also:

• HAT

hat he had ascertained the characters in the See also:

• COLUMN (Lat. columna)

column, now known to be See also:

• PERSIAN
• PERSIAN, SYRIAN, EGYPTIAN AND TURKISH

Persian, to be alphabetic .

At this point Grotefend took the See also:

• MATTER

matter up . His first See also:

• DISCOVERY

discovery was communicated to the Royal Society of Gottingen in 1800, and reviewed by Tychsen two years afterwards . In 1815 he gave an See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

account of it in Heeren's See also:

• GREAT

great work on See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient See also:

• HISTORY

history, and in 1837 published his Neue Beitrage zur Erlduterung der persepolitanischen Keilschrift . Three years later appeared his Neue Beitrage zur Erlduterung der babylonischen Keisschrift . His discovery may be summed up as follows: (1) that the Persian inscriptions contain three different forms of cuneiform See also:

• WRITING
• WRITING (the verbal noun of " to write," O. Eng. writan, to inscribe)

writing, so that the decipherment of the one would give the See also:

• KEY
• KEY (in O. Eng. tang; the ultimate origin of the word is unknown; it appears only in Old Frisian kei of other Teutonic languages; until the end of the 17th century the pronunciation was kay, as in other words in O. Eng. ending in aeg; cf. daeg, day; clang
• KEY (the phraseograms being indicated by hyphens)
• KEY, SIR ASTLEY COOPER (1821-1888)
• KEY, THOMAS HEWITT (1799-1875)

key to the decipherment of the others; (2) that the characters of the Persian column are alphabetic and not syllabic; (3) that they must be read from See also:

• LEFT

left to right; (4) that the See also:

• ALPHABET (see also WRITING)

alphabet consists of See also:

• FORTY

forty letters, including signs for See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long and See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short vowels; and (5) that the Persepolitan inscriptions are written in Zend (which, however, is not the See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case), and must be ascribed to the See also:

• AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of the Achaemcnian princes . The See also:

• PROCESS

process whereby Grotefend arrived at these conclusions is a prominent See also:

• ILLUSTRATION

illustration of persevering See also:

• GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius (see CUNEIFORM) . A solid basis had thus been laid for the See also:

• INTERPRETATION (from Lat. interpretari, to expound, explain, inter pres, an agent, go-between, interpreter; inter, between, and the root pret-, possibly connected with that seen either in Greek 4 p4'ew, to speak, or irpa-rrecv, to do)

interpretation of the Persian inscriptions, and all that remained was to work out the results of Grotefend's brilliant discovery, a task ably performed by See also:

• BURNOUF, EUGENE (1801—1852)

Burnouf, See also:

• LASSEN, CHRISTIAN (1800-1876)
• LASSEN, EDUARD (1830-19o4)

Lassen and See also:

• RAWLINSON, GEORGE (1812-1902)
• RAWLINSON, RICHARD (169o-1755)
• RAWLINSON, SIR HENRY CRESWICKE (1810—1895)
• RAWLINSON, SIR ROBERT (1810—1898)

Rawlinson . Grotefend died on the 15th of See also:

• DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1853 .