Vilhelm ThomsenVilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen (25 January 1842 – 12 May 1927) was a Danishlinguist and Turkologist. He successfully deciphered the Turkic Orkhon inscriptions which were discovered during the expedition of Nikolai Yadrintsev in 1889. Early life and educationVilhelm Thomsen was born in Copenhagen. He was the son of Chamber Councillor (kammerråd) Ludvig Frederik Thomsen and the elder brother of painter and illustrator Carl Thomsen (1847–1912).
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersThe Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (Danish: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or Videnskabernes Selskab) is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was created with the purpose of strengthening the position of Science in Denmark as well as promoting interdisciplinary understanding.
Franz BoppFranz Bopp (German:; 14 September 1791 – 23 October 1867) was a German linguist known for extensive and pioneering comparative work on Indo-European languages. Early lifeBopp was born in Mainz, but the political disarray in the Republic of Mainz caused his parents' move to Aschaffenburg, the second seat of the Archbishop of Mainz.
August LeskienAugust Leskien (German: [ˈaʊɡʊst lɛsˈkiːn]; 8 July 1840 – 20 September 1916) was a German linguist who studied comparative linguistics, particularly relating to the Baltic and Slavic languages.
Verner's lawVerner's law describes a historical sound change in the Proto-Germanic language whereby consonants that would have otherwise been the voiceless fricatives *f, *þ, *s, *h, *hʷ, when present following an unstressed syllable, evolved into the voiced fricatives *β, *ð, *z, *ɣ, *ɣʷ. The law was formulated by Karl Verner, and first published in 1877.
Holger Pedersen (linguist)Holger Pedersen (Danish:; 7 April 1867 – 25 October 1953) was a Danish linguist who made significant contributions to language science and wrote about thirty authoritative works concerning several languages. He was born in Gelballe, Denmark, and died in Hellerup, next to Copenhagen. Education and academic careerPedersen studied at the University of Copenhagen with Karl Verner, Vilhelm Thomsen, and Hermann Möller.
Glossary of sound laws in the Indo-European languagesA map showing various migrations of Indo-European peoples across Eurasia with their estimated datesThe Indo-European language family comprises a vast number of languages and dialects spoken throughout the world today. All of these languages are descended from a common ancestor known as Proto-Indo-European, which scholars estimate was spoken about six thousand years ago. This common ancestor has been reconstructed by historical linguists using the comparative method.
Rasmus RaskRasmus Kristian Rask (Danish: [ˈʁɑsmus ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈʁɑsk]; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist, philologist and a principal founder of the science of comparative linguistics. In 1818, he first showed that, in their consonant sounds, words in the Germanic languages vary with a certain regularity from their equivalents in the other Indo-European languages.
Oswald SzemerényiOswald John Louis SzemerényiFBA (Hungarian pronunciation:; 7 September 1913 – 29 December 1996) was a Hungarian-British historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist. He is best known as the namesake of Szemerényi's law, a potential early sound law in the Proto-Indo-European language. BiographySzemerényi was born in London to Hungarian parents.
Anatoly LibermanAnatoly Liberman (Russian: Анато́лий Си́монович Либерма́н; born 10 March 1937) is a linguist, medievalist, etymologist, poet, translator of poetry (mainly from and into Russian), and literary critic.Karl BrugmannKarl Friedrich Christian Brugmann ( ; néBrugman; 16 March 1849 – 29 June 1919) was a German linguist and one of the founders of the Neogrammarian school. He is best known for his contributions to Indo-European linguistics, particularly in the fields of historical phonology and morphology.
Hermann CollitzHermann Collitz (February 4, 1855 – May 13, 1935) was a German and American historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist. He emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1886, taking a position at the newly founded Bryn Mawr College, where he stayed for 20 years. In 1907 he left for the Johns Hopkins University, where he taught until his retirement in 1927. His career interests covered the historical phonology and morphology of Indo-European languages.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.