The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kopitar, Bartholomæus

KOPITAR, kō'pē-tär, Bartholomæus or Jernej, Austrian philologist: b. Carniola, Austrian Hungary, 1780; d. 1844. He was educated at the German gymnasium of Laibach, and completed his studies at Vienna, where he became curator of the imperial library. In 1814 he set out on his travels through Europe, his tour embracing Germany, England, Italy and France, to which last country he went with the special mission of recovering the Slavic manuscripts carried off by the French in 1809. His contribution to philological science consists in pioneer work in Slavic grammar. His principal works are ‘Grammatik der slawischen Sprache in Krain, Kärnten, and Steiermark’ (1808); ‘Glagolita Clozianus’ (1836), and ‘Hesychii Glossographi Discipulus Russus’ (1839).