Johann Ludwig Tobler (1 June 1827 – 19 August 1895) was a Swiss

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

. Born in

Hirzel Hirzel is a former municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen. History Hirzel is first mentioned in 1269 as ''Hirso ...

in Zürich, Switzerland, he was an older brother of philologist

Adolf Tobler Adolf Tobler (24 May 1835 – 18 March 1910) was a Swiss-German linguist and philologist. Born in Hirzel in Zürich, Switzerland, he was the brother of linguist Ludwig Tobler (1827–1895). Adolf Tobler died in Berlin, Germany. He studied R ...

(1835–1910). Ludwig Tobler died in Zürich. He studied theology, philosophy and philology at the universities of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, receiving his doctorate at the latter institution in 1851. In 1864 he obtained 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 ...

from the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

and in 1866 became an associate professor of

linguistics 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 ...

and

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

. In 1873 he returned to the University of Zürich, where in 1893 he was named a full professor of German language and literature.

Published works

In 1881, with Friedrich Staub, he began publication of the ''

Schweizerisches Idiotikon ''Schweizerisches Idiotikon'' ("the Swiss idioticon", also known as ''Wörterbuch der schweizerdeutschen Sprache'' "Dictionary of the Swiss German language") is an ongoing, major project of lexicography of the Swiss German dialects. Publication beg ...

'' ("Swiss idioticon"; a dictionary of the Swiss-German language). The following are some of his other written efforts: * ''Über die Wortzusammensetzung nebst einem Anhang über die verstärkenden Zusammensetzungen'', 1868 – On word composition. * ''Die fremden Wörter in der deutschen Sprache'', 1872 – Foreign words in the German language. * ''Schweizerische Volkslieder'' (2 volumes, 1882–84) – Swiss folk songs. * ''Ethnographische Gesichtspuncte der schweizerdeutschen Dialektforschung'', 1887 – Ethnographic aspects of Swiss-German dialect research. * ''Kleine Schriften zur Volks-und Sprachkunde'' (edited by Albert Bachmann and

Jakob Baechtold Jakob Baechtold, surname sometimes spelled as Bächtold (27 January 1848, in Schleitheim – 7 August 1897, in Zürich) was a Swiss literary scholar. He studied German philology under Adolf Holtzmann at the University of Heidelberg, then cont ...

, 1897) – Smaller writings on folklore and linguistics.HathiTrust Digital Trust
(published works)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobler, Ludwig 1827 births 1895 deaths People from Horgen District University of Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Zurich Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Bern Linguists from Switzerland Swiss folklorists