Gottfried Bernhardy (March 20, 1800 - May 14, 1875), German philologist and literary historian, was born at Landsberg on the Wartia, in Brandenburg.

He was the son of Jewish parents in reduced circumstances. Two well-to-do uncles provided the means for his education, and in 1811 he entered the Joachimsthal gymnasium at Berlin. In 1817 he went to Berlin University to study philology, where he had the advantage of hearing FA Wolf (then advanced in years), August Böckh and P Buttmann. In 1822 he took the degree of doctor of philosophy at Berlin, and in 1825 became extraordinary professor. In 1829 he succeeded C Reisig as ordinary professor and director of the philological seminary at Halle, and in 1844 was appointed chief librarian of the university.

The most important of Bernhardy's works were his histories (or sketches) of Greek and Roman literature:

• Grundriss der romischen Litteratur (5th ed., 1872)
• Grundriss der griechischen Litteratur:
  • Pt. i, Introduction and General View, 1836
  • Pt. ii, Greek Poetry, 1845
  • pt. iii, Greek Prose Literature, (was never published).

A fifth edition of pts. i. and ii., by R Volkmann, began in 1892. Other works by Bernhardy are:

• Eratosthenica (1822)
• Wissenschaftliche Syntax der griechischen Sprache (1829, suppts. 1854, 1862)
• Grundlinien zur Encyclopädie der Philologie (1832)
• the monumental edition of the Lexicon of Suidas (1834-1853)
• an edition of FA Wolf's Klene Schriften (1869).

See Volkmann, C. Bernhardy (1887).