Hermann Collitz (4 February 1855 – 13 May 1935) was an eminent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

historical linguist Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

and

Indo-Europeanist 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 ...

, who spent much of his career in the

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Biography

Born in

Bleckede Bleckede (, Polabian ''Bleketsa'') is a town in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated mostly on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. 20 km east of Lüneburg. Bleckede is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. H ...

near

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

in 1885. Collitz received a

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 ''li ...

in 1878 at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

with a dissertation on "The Emergence of the Indo-Iranian

Palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

Series" (German: ''Die Entstehung der indoiranischen Palatalreihe''), and his 1885 habilitation degree at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

for "The

Inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...

Noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

s with Threefold Gradation in

Old Indic The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, P ...

and in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: the Cases of the Singular" (German: ''Die Flexion der Nomina mit dreifacher Stammabstufung im Altindischen und im Griechischen – Die Casus des Singular''). In 1886, Collitz emigrated to the United States, where he taught at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. In 1907, he moved to

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, where he took up a chair in Germanic studies. He was elected as a member 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 ...

in 1902. In 1924, Collitz was elected the first

president of the Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for linguistics founded in December 1924. At the first meeting, the LSA membership elected Hermann Collitz as their first president. Since then, there have been presidencies, with dif ...

. In 1927, he officially retired from Johns Hopkins, but remained in Baltimore until his death in 1935. On 13 August 1904, he married Klara Hechtenberg, a fellow German-born philologist. Upon her death, in 1944, she left most of her estate to the

Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...

to found the Hermann and Klara H. Collitz Professorship in Comparative Philology. She left her husband's papers to Johns Hopkins University.

Selected works

He published: * ''Sammlung der griechischen Dialektinschriften'' (1884–1909; with Friedrich Bechtel) * ''Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der griechischen Dialekte'' (1895) * ''Die neueste Sprachforschung'' (1886) See also:
World Languages
in ''PMLA'', Vol. 40, Appendix (1925), pp. xliii-lv, published by Modern Language Association * "Hermann Collitz", in ''German Life'' magazine, December 2014/January 2015, p. 57

References

External links

Catalogus Professorum Halensis (biography in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Collitz, Hermann 1855 births 1935 deaths Linguists from the United States Linguists from Germany People from Bleckede Linguistic Society of America presidents Presidents of the Modern Language Association