Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer (11 December 1851 – 29 July 1910) was a German Celticist and Indologist.
Born to a farming family in
Kastellaun in the
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
in western
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, he studied ancient languages at
Kaiser Wilhelm University in
Strassburg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the E ...
, going on to study Indology and Sanskrit under
Rudolf von Roth
Rudolf von Roth (born Walter Rudolph Roth, 3 April 1821 – 23 June 1895) was a German Indologist, founder of the Vedic philology. His chief work is a monumental Sanskrit dictionary, compiled in collaboration with Otto von Böhtlingk.
Biography
...
at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...
. In 1878 he became a lecturer at
Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, where the young
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure (; ; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wide ...
studied with him; in 1881 he became Professor of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
and
Comparative Linguistics
Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness.
Genetic relatedness ...
at the
University of Greifswald
The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...
. In 1901 he became the founding Professor of
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
at Friedrich Wilhelm University, the first position of its kind in Germany; his most celebrated student there was
Rudolf Thurneysen
Eduard Rudolf Thurneysen (March 14, 1857 – 9 August 1940) was a Swiss linguist and Celticist.
Biography
Born in Basel, Thurneysen studied classical philology in Basel, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. His teachers included Ernst Windisch and H ...
. (He was followed in the post after his death by
Kuno Meyer
Kuno Meyer (20 December 1858 – 11 October 1919) was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I in the United States was a source of controversy. His brother ...
.) In 1902 he became a member of the
Prussian Academy of Sciences
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
and in 1906 a corresponding member of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...
. In 1910, suffering from an incurable illness, he committed suicide by drowning himself.
Writings
*''Die nominalsuffixe a and â in den germanischen Sprachen'' (Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, 1876)
*''Keltische Studien'' (Berlin: Weidmann, 1881)
*''Ueber die Bedeutung des irischen Elements für die mittelalterliche Kultur'' (Preussische Jahrbücher, 1887; translated by Jane Loring Edmands as ''The Irish Element in Mediaeval Culture'', New York: Putnam, 1891)
*''Nennius Vindicatus''
External links
*
Celtic studies scholars
Humboldt University of Berlin faculty
University of Greifswald faculty
1851 births
1910 deaths
German Indologists
German male non-fiction writers
1910 suicides
Suicides by drowning in Germany
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