Karl Hoffmann (26 February 1915 – 21 May 1996) was a German
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 ...
who specialized in
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
and
Indo-Iranian studies. He is most recognized for his achievements in his studies of
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit was an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preser ...
,
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
and
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
languages.
Biography
Early life
Karl Hoffmann was born the son of a railway official, during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in
Hof,
Upper Palatinate
The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria.
Geography
The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...
,
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
,
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
. His family later moved to the
state
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capital
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* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
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* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
of
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, whence he remained for the duration of his childhood.
World War II
In 1934, Hoffmann began his education in Indo-European studies, which he continued until he was called in for
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
for
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
at the start of World War II in 1939. Hoffmann took his leave from the war during 1941, just long enough to receive his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
for his unpublished
dissertation, titled ''Die altindoarischen Wörter mit -ṇḍ- besonders im Ṛgveda''. Hoffmann was at the Russian front until 1943, after which he joined the
Indian Legion
, image = Flag of the Indian Legion.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = Flag of the Indian Legion
, country =
, allegiance = Adolf ...
(''Indische Legion''), together with other German Indologists, such as
Paul Thieme
Paul Thieme (; 18 March 1905 – 24 April 2001) was a German indologist and scholar of Vedic Sanskrit. In 1988 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for "he added immensely to our knowledge of Vedic and other classical Indian lit ...
and
Gustav Roth
Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to:
*Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film
* ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...
.
After the war
Once World War II had ended in 1945, Hoffmann returned to Munich in
Occupied Germany
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
, and was able to continue his academic work in Indo-Iranian studies. In 1951, he qualified as a
university lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct res ...
with his
habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
thesis, ''Der Injunktiv im Veda''.
In 1952, Hoffmann moved to
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
,
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
(then under the
Saar Protectorate
The Saar Protectorate (german: Saarprotektorat ; french: Protectorat de la Sarre) officially Saarland (french: Sarre) was a French protectorate separated from Germany; which was later opposed by the Soviet Union, one side occupying Germany like ...
), where he taught
Indo-European linguistics
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...
to his students at
Saarland University
Saarland University (german: Universität des Saarlandes, ) is a public research university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in si ...
. He continued teaching this course until 1955, when he accepted the chair of
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
Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg. He was offered a position at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
in 1962, but refused, and thus remained in
Erlangen
Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...
until his retirement in 1983. His notable students include
Johanna Narten
Johanna Narten (Hannover, 5 October 1930 – Uttenreuth, 15 July 2019), was a German Indo-Europeanist and Indo-Iranian linguist who discovered the reconstructed morphological category in Proto-Indo-European now known as the Narten present. She ...
, discoverer of the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
Narten present Narten present is a proposed inflectional class of the Proto-Indo-European verb, named after the Indo-Iranianist Johanna Narten who posited its existence in 1968. It is characterized by accent on the root in all of the person-number forms.
Roots h ...
.
Bibliography
*Hoffmann, Karl, ''Der Injunktiv im Veda: Eine synchronische Funktionsuntersuchung'' (1967), C. Winter.
*Hoffmann, Karl, ''Aufsätze zur Indoiranistik'' (1975, 1976, 1992), Reichert.
*Hoffmann, Karl; Narten, J., ''Der Sasanidische Archetypus: Untersuchungen zu Schreibung und Lautgestalt des Avestischen'' (1989), Wiesbaden.
*Forssman, Bernhard; Hoffman, Karl, ''Avestische Laut- und Flexionslehre'' (1996), Innsbruck.
References
*
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witze ...
, ''Karl Hoffmann (1915–1996)'', ''Indo-Iranian Journal'', Volume 40, Number 3 / August, 1997.
*Johanna Narten
"Karl Hoffmann" ''
Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
''
photograph.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Karl
1915 births
1996 deaths
People from Hof, Bavaria
German Indologists
Indo-Europeanists
Linguists of Indo-European languages
German male non-fiction writers