Between oblivion and instrumentalization. The vicissitudes of Early Modern missionary grammars and dictionaries in 19th-century scholarship, and the special case of Julius Platzmann

This contribution examines the extent to which missionary linguistic data and documentation were exploited (or left aside) in the 19th century and in times of professionalization of linguistics as an academic discipline. Scholars interested in non-European languages were often entirely dependent upon missionaries overseas. In the past, special attention has been given to the towering figures of Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro and Wilhelm von Humboldt. After briefly discussing Wilhelm von Humboldt’s ambivalent attitude toward the missionaries’ work, this paper will in particular survey the importance of 19th-century bibliographies and reprints. Finally, the paper will focus on one of the most prolific 19th-century scholars in dealing with missionary linguistic sources predating the 19th century: Julius Platzmann, who produced numerous reeditions of missionary linguistic sources. Remarkably, he devoted an entire book to explain the motives of this undertaking.

Publication year:2020

Accessibility:Open