Philipp Karl Buttmann (1764-1829), German philologist, was born at Frankfort-on-Main.

He was educated in his native town and at the university of Göttingen. In 1789 he obtained an appointment in the library at Berlin, and for some years he edited Spener's Journal. In 1796 he became professor at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin, a post which he held for twelve years. In 1806 he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences, and in 1811 was made secretary of the Historico-Philological Section.

Buttmann's writings gave a great impetus to the scientific study of the Greek language. His Griechische Grammatik (1792) went through many editions, and was translated into English. His Lexilogus, a valuable study on some words of difficulty occurring principally in the poems of Homer and Hesiod, was published in 1818-1825, and was translated into English.

Buttmann's other works were:

• Ausfuhrliche griechische Sprachlehre (2 vols, 1819-1827)
• Mythologus, a collection of essays (1828-1829)
• editions of some classical authors, the most important being Demosthenes' In Midiam (1823)
• the continuation of Spalding 's Quintilian.