Ferdinand Gotthelf Hand

Who was Ferdinand Gotthelf Hand?

Ferdinand Gotthelf Hand, German classical scholar, was born at Plauen in Saxony.

He studied at Leipzig. In 1810 he became professor at the Weimar gymnasium, and in 1817 professor of philosophy and Greek literature at the University of Jena, where he remained till his death.

The work by which Hand is chiefly known is his edition of the treatise of Horatius Tursellinus on the Latin particles. Like his treatise on Latin style, it is too abstruse and philosophical for the use of the ordinary student.

Hand was also an enthusiastic musician, and in his Asthetik der Tonkunst he was the first to introduce the subject of musical aesthetics. The first part of the last-named work has been translated into English by W.E. Lawson, and B. Sears's Classical Studies contains a "History of the Origin and Progress of the Latin Language," abridged from Hand's work on the subject. There is a memoir of his life and work by G. Queck.