Read the translated Northwest Coast material from Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde:

• JONA 48(1), Spring 2014

Johann Christoph Adelung

From Richard L. Bland in JONA 48(1)

Johann Christoph Adelung (1732–1806) was born at Spantekow in Western Pomerania (present-day Germany). He was educated in schools at Anklam and Berge Monastery, Magdeburg, and the University of Halle. Adelung took on many careers, from being a professor at the gymnasium in Erfurt, to devoting himself to philosophical studies in Leipzig, to becoming head librarian to the Elector of Saxony in Dresden.

Among many other language-oriented works, Adelung produced one of the earliest studies of Northwest Coast languages. The study was produced in Germany and is found within Adelung's major work Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde (Mithridates or General Linguistics), published between 1806 and 1817. This work includes compiled word lists to compare languages found in different areas and evaluates the claim that the Northwest languages originated in Mexico. Adelung also sought to draw connections between northern Eskimo populations and coastal peoples farther south.