description Conrad Gessner Overview
Conrad Gessner was a Swiss Renaissance humanist, physician, and naturalist whose encyclopedic works laid foundations for modern zoology and bibliography. He is recognized for his Historia Animalium, a large four-volume illustrated survey of animals, and Bibliotheca universalis, which cataloged all known writers in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. His 1555 linguistic treatise Mithridates also surveyed about 130 languages, famously using the Lord's Prayer in 22 languages for comparative analysis.
insights Ranking position
Conrad Gessner ranks #110 of 313 in the Lexicographer ranking, behind William Dwight Whitney, ahead of John R. Clark Hall.
help Conrad Gessner FAQ
What was Conrad Gessner trying to do in Mithridates?
Mithridates, published in 1555, attempted to survey the linguistic diversity known to European scholars. Gessner discussed about 130 languages and included versions of the Lord's Prayer in 22 of them.
Why did Gessner call his language book Mithridates?
The title invokes Mithridates VI of Pontus, who was traditionally reputed to know many languages. Renaissance writers used his name as a fitting emblem for a work comparing numerous tongues.
Was Conrad Gessner only a linguist?
No, the Swiss humanist also worked extensively in bibliography, medicine, botany, and zoology. His Historiae animalium was an ambitious sixteenth-century attempt to organize knowledge about animals.
How reliable is Mithridates as a modern account of language families?
It is historically important, but it predates modern comparative linguistics and modern classifications of language families. Its value lies in Gessner's attempt to collect multilingual evidence in 1555, not in providing a current linguistic taxonomy.
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