Otto Stoll (29 December 1849 in

Frauenfeld Frauenfeld (Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Sw ...

– 18 August 1922 in

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 ...

) was a Swiss

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 ...

and

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

. Otto Stoll was a professor of

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...

and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

who specialized in research of

Mayan languages The Mayan languagesIn linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and as ...

. From 1878 to 1883 he conducted scientific studies in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. He was the author of several treatises on Guatemala, including important works in the fields on

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and

ethno-linguistic Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is an area of anthropological linguistics that studies the relationship between a language and the nonlinguistic cultural behavior of the people who speak that language. __NOTOC__ Examples ...

Publications

* ''Zur Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala'' (Ethnography of the Republic of Guatemala), 1884. * ''Guatemala: Reisen und Schilderungen aus den Jahren 1878–1883'' (Guatemala: travel and descriptions from the years 1878–1883), 1886. * ''Biologia Centrali-Americana/ Arachnida – Acaridea'', (Central American biology,

Arachnida Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroon ...

Acaridae The Acaridae are a family of mites in order Sarcoptiformes. Distribution There are several acarid genera with cosmopolitan distributions, such as ''Acarus', Sancassania'' and ''Tyrophagus''. There are even ''Tyrophagus'' found in Antarctic ...

), 1886–1893. * ''Die Sprache der Ixil-Indianer: ein Beitrag zur Ethnologie und Linguistik der Maya-Völker'' (The language of the

Ixil people The Ixil (pronounced ) are a Maya people indigenous to Guatemala. The Ixil live in three municipalities in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the northern part of the department El Quiché. These municipalities, also known as the Ixil Triangle, are Sa ...

: a contribution to

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and linguistics of the Mayan peoples), 1887. * ''Die Sprache der Ixil-Indianer/ Nebst einem Anhang/ Wortverzeichnisse aus dem nordwestlichen Guatemala'' (The language of the Ixil people; including an addendum and directory of northwestern Guatemala), 1887. * ''Suggestion und Hypnotismus in der Völkerpsychologie'' (Suggestion and

hypnotism Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

in ethnic psychology), 1894. * ''Zur Zoogeographie der landbewohnenden Wirbellosen'' (

Zoogeography Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution (present and past) of animal species. As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular biology, genetics, mo ...

of terrestrial

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

), 1897. * ''Das Geschlechtsleben in der Völkerpsychologie'', (Sex life in ethnic psychology), 1908 * ''Zur Kenntnis des Zauberglaubens der Volksmagie und Volksmedizin in der Schweiz'' (Information involving the fascination with

folk magic In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized rel ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

), 1909.

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

.''

External links

* Ethnographers Swiss ethnologists Ethnolinguists Academic staff of the University of Zurich Academic staff of ETH Zurich Swiss anthropologists Swiss Mesoamericanists 19th-century Mesoamericanists Linguists of Mesoamerican languages Mesoamerican anthropologists People from Frauenfeld 1849 births 1922 deaths {{ethnologist-stub