Alfredo Trombetti (16 January 1866, in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
– 5 July 1929, in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
), was an Italian
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
active in the early 20th century.
Career overview
Trombetti was a professor at the
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
. He was a member of the
Italian Academy
The Royal Academy of Italy ( it, Reale Accademia d'Italia, italic=no) was a short-lived Italian academy of the Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by royal decree,See reference . but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929. It was e ...
.
He is best known as an advocate of the doctrine of
monogenesis, according to which all of the world's
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
s go back to a single common ancestral language. His arguments for monogenesis were first presented in his book ''L'unità d'origine del linguaggio,'' published in 1905.
This doctrine is still extremely controversial.
Proposed etymologies
A selection of Trombetti's proposed global etymologies:
[Trombetti, Alfredo. 1905. ]
L'unità d'origine del linguaggio
'' Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
:
Selected works
* 1902-1903. "Delle relazioni delle lingue caucasiche con le lingue camitosemitiche e con altri gruppi linguistichi. Lettera al professore H. Schuchardt." In ''Giornale della Società asiatica italiana,'' T. 15, pp. 177–201 and T. 16, pp. 145–175. Florence.
* 1902. ''Nessi genealogici fra le lingue del mondo antîco,'' 4 volumes, unpublished. Recipient of the Royal Prize of the Italian Academy in 1902.
* 1905.
L'unità d'origine del linguaggio'' Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
* 1907.
Come si fa la critica di un libro. Con nuovi contributi alla dottrina della monogenesi del linguaggio e alla glottologia generale comparata'' Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
* 1908.
Saggi di glottologia generale comparata I. I pronomi personali''
Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna
The Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna (''Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna'') is an academic society in Bologna, Italy, that was founded in 1690 and prospered in the Age of Enlightenment. Today it is closely associated ...
. Classe de scienze morali. Bologna.
* 1912. ''Manuale dell'arabo parlato a Tripoli. Grammatica, letture e vocabolario.'' Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
* 1913.
Saggi di glottologia generale comparata II. I numerali'' Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. Classe de scienze morali. Bologna.
* 1920.
Saggi di glottologia generale comparata III. Comparazioni lessicali'' Accademia delle scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. Classe de scienze morali. Bologna.
* 1922-1923. ''Elementi di glottologia'', 2 volumes. Bologna: Zanichelli.
* 1925.
Le origini della lingua basca'' Bologna: Azzoguidi.
* 1927. "La lingua etrusca e le lingue preindoeuropee del Meditarreneo." In ''Studi etruschi,'' T. 1. Florence.
* 1928. ''La lingua etrusca.'' Florence: Rinascimento del libro.
* 1928. "Origine asiatica delle lingue e popolazioni americane." In ''Atti del 22 congresso internazionale degli americanisti, Roma, Settembre 1926,'' T. 1, pp. 169–246. Rome: Istituto Cristoforo Colombo.
* 1929. ''Il nostro dialetto bolognese.'' Bologna: Zanichelli.
See also
*
Dené–Yeniseian languages
Dené–Yeniseian is a proposed language family consisting of the Yeniseian languages of central Siberia and the Na-Dené languages of northwestern North America.
Reception among experts has been somewhat favorable; thus, Dené–Yeniseian has b ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trombetti, Alfredo
Linguists from Italy
Paleolinguists
1866 births
1929 deaths
Members of the Royal Academy of Italy
Long-range comparative linguists
People from Bologna
University of Bologna faculty
Linguists of Proto-Human language