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{{Short description|Russian Sanskrit scholar (1815–1904)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Otto von Böhtlingk
| image             = Oboehtlingk5 f.jpg
| caption           = Portrait of Otto von Böhtlingk
| birth_date        = {{OldStyleDate|30 May|1815|11 June}}
| birth_place       = [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1904|04|01 |1815|05|30}}
| death_place       = [[Leipzig]], [[Kingdom of Saxony]], [[German Empire]]
| citizenship       = [[Russian Empire]]
| nationality       = [[Germany|German]]
| fields            = 
| workplaces        = 
| patrons           = 
| education         = 
| alma_mater        = [[University of Bonn]]
| known_for         = the most notable [[Russian Empire|Russian]] Sanskritologist of the 19th century, creator of a [[Sanskrit]] dictionary in 7 volumes, the first scientific grammar of the [[Yakut language]], etc.
| awards            = [[Order of Saint Vladimir]], [[Order of Saint Anna]], [[Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov)|Imperial Order of Saint Stanislaus]]
}}
'''Otto von Böhtlingk''' ({{langx|ru|Оттон Николаевич Бётлингк}}, ''Otton Nikolayevich Byotlingk''; {{OldStyleDate|30 May|1815|11 June}} – {{OldStyleDate|19 March|1904|1 April}})<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-last=Прохоров|editor-first=А. М.|encyclopedia=«Большая Советская Энциклопедия" (В 30 томах)|title=Бётлингк Оттон Николаевич|pages=280|location=Москва|volume=3|year=1970|publisher=Советская энциклопедия}}</ref> was a [[Russia Germans|Russian-German]] [[Indologist]] and [[Sanskrit grammarians|Sanskrit scholar]]. His ''[[Masterpiece|magnum opus]]'' was a Sanskrit-German dictionary.

==Biography==
He was born in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia. His [[Russia Germans|German ancestors]] migrated to Russia from [[Lübeck]] in 1713. Having studied (1833–1835) [[Oriental]] languages, particularly [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Sanskrit]], at the [[University of Saint Petersburg]], he continued his studies in Germany, first in Berlin and then (1839–1842) in [[Bonn]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Returning to Saint Petersburg in 1842, he was attached to the Royal Academy of Sciences, and was elected an ordinary member of that society in 1855. In 1860 he was made Russian state councillor, and later privy councillor with a title of nobility. In 1862, the [[American Philosophical Society]] elected him an international Member.<ref>{{cite web |title=Otto Bohtlingk |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=B%C3%B6htlingk&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |website=American Philosophical Society Member History Database |access-date=18 February 2021}}</ref> In 1868 he settled at [[Jena]], and in 1885 moved to [[Leipzig]], where he resided until his death.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Scholarship==
Böhtlingk was one of the most distinguished scholars of the nineteenth century,{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} and his works are of pre-eminent value in the field of Indian and comparative [[philology]].

His first great work was a translation of the Sanskrit [[grammar]] of [[Panini (scholar)|Panini]], {{IAST|[[Aṣṭādhyāyī]]}}, with a German [[Commentary (philology)|commentary]], under the title ''Acht Bücher grammatischer Regeln'' (Bonn, 1839–1840). This was in reality a criticism of [[Franz Bopp]]'s philological methods.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

This work was followed by:{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
*''[[Vopadeva]]s Grammatik'' (Saint Petersburg, 1847)
*''Über die Sprache der [[Yakuts|Jakuten]]'' (Saint Petersburg, 1851) [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10366687]
*''Indische Sprüche'', a series of Sanskrit apothegms and proverbial verses (2nd ed. in 3 parts, Saint Petersburg, 1870–1873, to which an index was published by Blau, Leipzig, 1893)
*a critical examination and translation of the ''[[Chandogya]] [[Upanishad]]'' (Saint Petersburg, 1889)
*a translation of the ''[[Brihadaranyaka]] [[Upanishad]]'' (Saint Petersburg, 1889)

His [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]] was his great Sanskrit-German dictionary, ''Sanskrit-Wörterbuch'' (7 vols., Saint Petersburg, 1853–1875; shortened ed. (without citations) 7 vols, Saint Petersburg, 1879–1889), which with the assistance of his two friends, [[Rudolf Roth]] (d. 1895) and [[Albrecht Weber]] (b. 1825), was completed in 23 years.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He also published several smaller treatises, notably one on [[Vedic accent]], ''Über den Accent im Sanskrit'' (1843).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Also notable are his ''Sanskrit-Chrestomathie'' (Saint Petersburg, 1845; 2d ed., 1877–97), and an edition with translation of a treatise on Hindu poetics by [[Daṇḍin]], ''[[Kāvyādarśa]]'' (Leipzig, 1890).<ref name=NIE>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Böhtlingk, Otto von|year=1905}}</ref><ref>''[https://archive.org/details/kavyadarsadandindandinspoetikkavyadarsaottovonbohtlingk1890 Daṇḍin's Poetik (Kâvyâdarça): Sanskrit und Deutsch]'' (Leipzig: Haessel, 1890).</ref> Böhtlingk took up Panini's grammar again, 47 years after his first edition, when he republished it with a complete translation under the title ''Panini's Grammatik mit Übersetzung'' (Leipzig, 1887).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[Abhik Ghosh]] and [[Paul Kiparsky]] suggested<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ghosh |first1=Abhik |last2=Kiparsky |first2=Paul |date=2019 |title=The Grammar of the Elements |journal=American Scientist |volume=107 |issue=6 |pages=350 |doi=10.1511/2019.107.6.350 |issn=0003-0996 |s2cid=209975833|doi-access=free }}</ref> that [[Dmitri Mendeleev]] may have known his contemporary's Böhtlingk's work on the periodic nature of the [[Sanskrit]] writing and this helped him in the formulation of the [[periodic table]]. According to this suggestion, Mendeleev's use of the prefixes ''eka'', ''dvi'', and ''tri'' (Sanskrit for one, two, and three) to name as yet undiscovered chemical elements may be viewed as an homage to [[Sanskrit grammar]] and to the Sanskrit grammarian [[Pāṇini]].

==Bibliography==
*[https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kalidasa1842 Kalidasa] 1842
*with Rudolph Roth, [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/PWGScan/2020/web/index.php ''Sanskrit-Wörterbuch''] [[Saint Petersburg]] 1855–1875.
*[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/pwindex.html ''Sanskrit-Wörterbuch in kürzerer Fassung''] 1879–1889 
*''[[iarchive:BohtlingkPaninisGrammatik1887|Panini's Grammatik]]'' 1887
*''Indische Sprüche'' - [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/boehtlingk1863 Band 1 1863] [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/boehtlingk1864 Band 2 1864] [https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/boehtlingk1865 Band 3 1865], Saint Petersburg, Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 1863–65.
*''[[iarchive:sanskritchresto00bhgoog|Sanskrit-Chrestomathie]]'' 1845

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Böhtlingk, Otto von|volume=4|page=137}}

== Further reading ==
* Otto Böhtlingk an Rudolf Roth: Briefe zum Petersburger Wörterbuch 1852–1885. Herausgegeben von Heidrun Brückner und Gabriele Zeller. Bearbeitet von Agnes Stache. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2007.  {{ISBN|978-3-447-05641-0}}.
* {{NDB|2|396|397|Böhtlingk, Otto Nikolaus von|Willibald Kirfel|116221909}}

== External links ==
{{Nuttall poster|title=Böhtlingk, Otto}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Bohtlingk, Otto von|year=1920 |short=x}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Otto von Böhtlingk |sopt=w}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boehtlingk, Otto von}}
[[Category:1815 births]]
[[Category:1904 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:19th-century people from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century German writers]]
[[Category:19th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany]]
[[Category:German Indologists]]
[[Category:Russian people of German descent]]
[[Category:German philologists]]
[[Category:Grammarians from Germany]]
[[Category:Philologists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:German untitled nobility]]
[[Category:History of linguistics]]
[[Category:Saint Peter's School (Saint Petersburg) alumni]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:German Sanskrit scholars]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]