Manfred Mayrhofer (26 September 1926 – 31 October 2011) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n Indo-Europeanist who specialized in

Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken in the geographical subr ...

. Mayrhofer served as professor emeritus at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

. He is noted for his etymological dictionary 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 ...

. Mayrhofer was born in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

and studied Indo-European and Semitic linguistics and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The univers ...

, where he received his Ph.D. in 1949. From 1953 to 1963 he taught at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

, and from 1963 to 1966 he was a professor at Saarland University. In 1966 he returned to Austria, serving as professor at the

until his retirement in 1990. He died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

at the age of 85.

Works

*1953 – ''Sanskrit-Grammatik''. ** English translation: ''A Sanskrit Grammar'' (2003), . *1956–80 – ''Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen''. 4 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. . ** 1956 – vol. 1: A–Th ** 1963 – vol. 2: D–M ** 1976 – vol. 3: Y–H ** 1980 – vol. 4: Index *1966 – ''Die Indo-Arier im alten Vorderasien''. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1966. *1974 – ''Die Arier im Vorderen Orient, ein Mythos? Mit einem bibliographischen Supplement''. Vienna: Verlag der Österr. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1974. *1977 – ''Die avestischen Namen'', IPNB I/1 (Vienna). *1978 – ''Sanskrit-Grammatik mit sprachvergleichenden Erläuterungen'' (1978), . *1979 – ''Die altiranischen Namen'' (Vienna), . *1979/1996 – ''Ausgewählte

kleine Schriften ' is a German phrase ("short writings" or "minor works"; la, Opuscula) often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These short ...

'', . *1981 – ''Nach hundert Jahren. Ferdinand de Saussures Frühwerk und seine Rezeption durch die heutige Indogermanistik''. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. *1982 – ''Sanskrit und die Sprachen Alteuropas'' (Göttingen) *1982 – “Welches Material aus dem Indo-arischen von Mitanni verbleibt für eine selektive Darstellung?”, in ''Investigationes philologicae et comparativae: Gedenkschrift für Heinz Kronasser'', ed. E. Neu. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1982, pp. 72–90. *1986 – ''Indogermanische Grammatik'', vol. 1: ''Lautlehre''. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. (with Jerzy Kuryłowicz and Calvert Watkins), *1992–2001 – ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen''. 3 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. . ** 1992 – vol. 1 ** 1998 – vol. 2 ** 2001 – vol. 3 *2004 – ''Die Hauptprobleme der indogermanischen Lautlehre seit Bechtel'' (Vienna), *2005 – ''Die Fortsetzung der indogermanischen Laryngale im Indo-Iranischen'' (Vienna), *2006 – ''Einiges zu den Skythen, ihrer Sprache, ihrem Nachleben'' (Vienna), *2009 – ''Indogermanistik: Über Darstellungen und Einführungen von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart'' (Vienna),

Decorations and awards

* 1982: Culture Prize of the Province of Upper Austria * 1986:

Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian ...

* 1988: Wilhelm Hartel Prize * 1992: Elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

* 1993: Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* 2004: Cardinal Innitzer Prize

References

External links

Personal webpage
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050827004929/http://www.oeaw.ac.at/oeaw_servlet/PersonenDetailsGeneric?id=11138 2011 deaths 1926 births Writers from Linz University of Graz alumni University of Würzburg faculty Saarland University faculty Academics of the University of Vienna Sanskrit grammarians Austrian Indologists Sanskrit scholars Indo-Europeanists Linguists of Indo-European languages Iranologists Linguists from Austria Etymologists Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art {{Austria-linguist-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society