Wilhelm Bleek

Wilhelm Bleek (born March 8, 1827, Berlin, German Confederation [now in Germany]—died August 17, 1875, Cape Town, Cape Colony [now in South Africa]) was a comparative linguist known for his pioneer studies of South African languages as the “Father of Bantu Philology.”

In his doctoral dissertation at the University of Bonn (1851), Bleek attempted to prove a North African origin of the Khoe language (he referred to the language as “Hottentot”—the term fashioned by South Africa’s Dutch settlers—which is now considered to be pejorative). In about 1855 he went to Natal to study the language and customs of the Xhosa. Before going to Cape Town, he wrote The Languages of Mosambique (1856). The following year he was appointed interpreter to the British governor of Cape Colony, Sir George Grey, and, from about 1860, served as librarian of a valuable collection of books presented to the colony by Grey. Bleek introduced the term “Bantu” to cover a macro-family of African languages. He wrote a number of works, including Handbook of African, Australian and Polynesian Philology, 3 vol. (1858–63); A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages (1862–69); and Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales (1864).