Hermann Osthoff (18 April 1847 – 7 May 1909) was a German

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. He was involved in

Indo-European studies 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 p ...

and the

Neogrammarian The Neogrammarians (, , ) were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change. Overview According to the Neogrammarian ...

school. He is known for formulating Osthoff's law and published widely on Indo-European word-formation and

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

Life

Osthoff studied classical philology,

Germanic philology Germanic philology is the philology, philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a Comparative method, comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, wi ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness implies a common origin or proto-language and comparative linguistics aim ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. In 1869 he obtained his doctorate in Bonn as a student of Hermann Usener. During his time in that city, he became a member of the Burschenschaft Alemannia of Bonn. From 1871 onward, he taught classes at the gymnasium in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. In 1875, he successfully completed his postdoctoral

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, and in 1877, was named an associate professor of comparative linguistics and Sanskrit at the

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

. Shortly afterwards, he was granted full professorship at Heidelberg, where he later served as dean (1894/95) and vice-rector (1899–1900).Osthoff, Hermann
In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, , S. 627 f. The main focus of his research was in

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

. Along with Karl Brugmann and August Leskien, he was a significant figure in the founding of the Neogrammarians. He was a vocal critic of a young

Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wi ...

's pioneering work ''Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes'', in which the 20-year-old Saussure postulated the

laryngeal theory The laryngeal theory is a theory in historical linguistics positing that the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language included a number of laryngeal consonants that are not linguistic reconstruction, reconstructable by direct application of the com ...

in 1879. However, Saussure's theory was confirmed with the discovery of Hittite in the early 20th century.

Selected works

* ''Morphologische Untersuchungen auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen'' (with Karl Brugmann); (6 volumes, 1878–1910) – Morphological studies in the field of Indo-European languages. * ''Das Verbum in der Nominalcomposition im Deutschen, Griechischen, Slavischen und Romanischen'', 1878 – The verb in nominal composition in German, Greek, Slavic and Romance. * ''Das physiologische und psychologische Moment in der sprachlichen Formenbildung'', 1879 – The physiological and psychological moment in linguistic morphogenesis. * ''Zur Geschichte des Perfects im Indogermanischen'', 1884 – History of perfects in Indo-European.Most widely held works by Hermann Osthoff
WorldCat Identities

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osthoff, Hermann 1847 births 1909 deaths People from Unna People from the Province of Westphalia 19th-century German linguists Historical linguists Linguists of Indo-European languages Academic staff of Heidelberg University