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)