Biography of the World's Greatest Linguists Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti

About the biography of Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti one of the greatest linguists in history and the world.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST LINGUISTS

CARDINAL GIUSEPPE MEZZOFANTI (1774-1849)

Lord Byron called the chief keeper of the Vatican Library "a walking polyglot; a monster of languages; a Briareus of parts of speech." (Briareus was a mythical giant with 50 heads and 100 hands.) The cardinal could speak 50 languages and could translate 114 languages and 72 dialects, including Geez and Chippewa.