Matthias Lexer
Matthias Lexer, later Matthias von Lexer, was a German lexicographer, author of the principal dictionary of the Middle High German language, Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch von Matthias Lexer, completed in 1878 in three volumes. This dictionary was founded upon the base of the Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch by Benecke, Müller and Zarncke, completed in 1866 in three volumes.
Matthias Lexer received a PhD in a lexicological subject at age 30 in 1860 at the University of Erlangen, where one of his teachers was the historian Karl von Hegel. From then onward he held teaching positions at German universities.
"The Middle High German dictionary is noted for its admirably comprehensive coverage of the language of courtly literature.... gaps in its medical and scientific vocabulary, and the coverage of legal terminology."Footnotes
