The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Diefenbach, Lorenz

DIEFENBACH, Lorenz, dēf'ĕn-baH, German philologist: b. Ostheim, Hesse, 29 July 1806; d. Frankfort-on-Main, 28 March 1883. He was 12 years pastor and librarian at Solms-Laubach. In 1848 he settled at Frankfort-on-Main, where in 1865 he was appointed second librarian to the city. His literary industry was enormous, embracing poetry and romances, as well as those more ponderous works by which his name will live. His greatest books are ‘Celtica’ (1839-40); ‘Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gothischen Sprache’ (1846-51); ‘Glossarium Latino-Germanicum mediæ et infimæ ætatis,’ a supplement to Ducange's well-known ‘Glossary’ (1857); ‘Origines Europææ’; ‘Hoch- und Niederdeutsches Wörterbuch’ (with Wülcker, 2 vols., 1874-75).