Philipp Karl Buttmann


Philipp Karl Buttmann, was a German philologist of French Huguenot ancestry, born in Frankfurt am Main.
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.

Published works

Buttmann's writings gave a great impetus to the scientific study of the Greek language. His Griechische Grammatik went through many editions, and was translated into English. 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.
Buttmann's other works were: