Karl Hoffmann (26 February 1915 – 21 May 1996) was a German linguist who specialized in Indo-European and Indo-Iranian studies. He is most recognized for his achievements in his studies of Vedic Sanskrit,

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 in Hof, Upper Palatinate, Kingdom of Bavaria,

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

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of Munich, 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 for Nazi Germany 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 Hoffmann took his leave from the war during 1941, just long enough to receive his doctorate for his unpublished dissertation, titled ''Die altindoarischen Wörter mit -ṇḍ- besonders im Ṛgveda''.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 (''Indische Legion''), together with other German Indologists, such as Paul Thieme and Gustav Roth.

After the war

Once World War II had ended in 1945, Hoffmann returned to Munich in Occupied Germany, 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 (then under the Saar Protectorate), where he taught Indo-European linguistics to his students at Saarland University. 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 in 1962, but refused, and thus remained in Erlangen until his retirement in 1983. His notable students include Johanna Narten, discoverer of the Indo-European

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, ''Karl Hoffmann (1915–1996)'', ''Indo-Iranian Journal'', Volume 40, Number 3 / August, 1997. *Johanna Narten
"Karl Hoffmann"
'' Encyclopædia Iranica''
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