Holtzmann, ADOLF

Holtzmann, ADOLF, a celebrated Germanist, was born at Karlsruhe, 2d May 1810, first studied theology at Berlin, then Old German philology under Schmeller at Munich, and next Sanskrit under Burnouf at Paris. In 1852 he was appointed professor of the German Language and Literature at Heidelberg, where he died, 3d July 1870. Among his numerous contributions to philology are Ueber den griech. Ursprung des Ind. Tierskreises (1844); Ind. Sagen (1845-47); Kelten und Germanen (1855), in which both are maintained to have been originally identical; and Untersuchungen über das Nibelungenlied (1854), in which the views of Lachmann are assailed. His last work was a projected Altdeutsche Grammatik. After his death Holder edited from his papers German. Altertümer (1873), Deutsche Mythologie (1874), and Die ältere Edda (1875).—Of his brothers two attained eminence, Karl Heinrich Alexander (1811-65) as a lecturer and writer on applied mathematics; and Karl Julius (1804-77) as a preacher and ecclesiastic at Karlsruhe.