BENARY, Karl Albert Agathon. Kassel 17.1.1807 — Berlin 6.12.1860. German Classical and IE scholar. Teacher in Berlin. Born in Kassel as a son of the banker Salmon Levy (1770-1828; from 1818 Benary) and Gutheil Meilert (1778-1833), brother of —> Ferdinand B. After school in Göttingen and Erfurt he studied in 1824-27 classical philology at Göttingen and Halle (Reisig). Ph.D. 1827 Göttingen. Working as teacher in a gymnasium in Berlin, studied Sanskrit and comparative philology under Bopp. From 1833, and until his death, teacher at the Cöllnische Realgymnasium in Berlin, also a PD at the university from 1839. Married Bertha, three sons and one daughter.
Benary was one of the first to apply comparative linguistics in classical grammar. He defended Bopp against the Bonn school.
Publications: Reviews of A. W. von Schlegel’s Zunahme … Kenntnisse von Indien, Jb. f. wiss. Kritik 1831:1, 748-772; Bopp’s Grammatica critica linguae Sanscritae, Ibid. Juli 1833, 17-59; of Burnouf’s Vahista et Vasichta, Ibid. 1834:2, 229-232; of Hoefer’s De Prakrita Dialecto libri duo, Ibid. Juni 1836, 863-875.
– Diss. De Aeschyli Prometheo soluto. B. 1827.
– Die römische Lautlehre sprachvergleichend dargestellt. I. 22+308 p. B. 1837; “Ueber konsonantenverbindung im anlaut in der idg. sprachen”, KZ 1, 1852, 46-78; “Über den accent im lateinischen”, KZ 5, 1856, 312-319.
Sources: Leskien, A.D.B. 2, 1875, 314; Eckstein, Nomenclator philologorum 1871 (exact dates) and one further brief account in Deutsches biogr. Archiv 1st series; Windisch 95; Wikipedia (with photo)
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