KRETSCHMER, Paul Wilhelm. Berlin 2.5.1866 — Vienna 9.3.1956. German IE Scholar in Austria. Professor in Vienna. Son of the history and portrait painter Albert Kr. (1825–1891) and Minna Obenauf. Studies of IE (J. Schmidt) and classical philology (H. Diels) at Berlin, Ph.D. there 1889. From 1891 PD at Berlin. In 1897-99 Professor at Marburg. In 1899-1936 ord. Professor of General and IE Linguistics at Vienna, then emeritus. Hon. dr. Athens and Sophia. Married 1900 Leona Gronay, one daughter.

Kretschmer was mainly a Greek scholar, but also one of the last Indogermanists, who really covered the entire field. In 1924 he became interested in Hittite, which also led him to early history of Indo-Iranian. He suggested that Varuṇa in his post-Vedic forms was a contamination of Hittite (Aruna ‘sea’) and Babylonian ideas, and Indra identical with Hittite Inaras/Inar/Indara. He tried to reconstruct Indo-Iranian migration explaining Greek Ὄαρος ‘Volga’ as OIA vār- ‘water’, the Σινδοί of Kuban as Indians, and Pliny’s Croucasis, nive candidum for the Caucasus, thus suggesting that at least part of them had crossed the Caucasus. Even the Mitanni Aryans he supposed to have later migrated to India, giving on the way the sun-god Šuriaš to the Cassites. Among his students were Brandenstein, Kronasser and Pokorny.

Publications: Diss. “Beiträge zur griechischen Grammatik”, KZ 30, 1889, 565-600.

– Habil.diss. “Indogermanische Accent- und Lautstudien”, KZ 31, 1890, 325-472.

– Die griechischen Vaseninschriften. 251 p. Gütersloh 1894; Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache. 428 p. Göttingen 1896; Die heutige lesbische Dialekt. 614 p. Vienna 1905; Rückläufige Wörterbuch der gr. Sprache. Göttingen 1944.

– “Xerxes und Artaxerxes”, KZ 37, 1899, 140-146.

– Wortgeographie der hochdeutschen Umgangssprache. 1-2. Göttingen 1916.

– “Varuṇa und die Urgeschichte der Inder”, WZKM 33, 1926, 1-22; “Weiteres zur Urgeschichte der Inder”, KZ 55, 1927, 75-103; “Zum Ursprung des Gottes Indra”, Anz.Öst.A.W. 1927, 39-53; “Indra und der heth. Gott Inaras”, Kleinasiat. Forsch. 1, 1929, 297-317; “Zur indischen Herkunft europäischer Volksmärchen”, WZKM 37, 1930, 1-21; “Inder am Kuban”, Anz.Öst.A.W. 1943, 35-42; “Altindische Zeugnisse für die Gattenliebe der Wildente Penelops”, Ibid. 1947, 33-35; “Der Name des Elefanten”, Ibid. 1951, 307-325 & 1952, 191-193.

– “Zum Balkanskythischen”, Glotta 24, 1935, 1-56; further studies and articles on Greek and IE.

– Objektive Konjugation im Indogermanischen. 51 p. Sb.Ö.A.W. 225:2. Vienna 1947.

Sources: Bihl 69f.; *W. Brandenstein, Kratylos 1, 1956, 88-90; *D. Cherubian, Lex. gramm. 1996, 533; *W. Havers, Almanach Ö.A.W. 106, 1957, 338-366; H. Kronasser, WZKM 1957, 1-3 & *AfO 17, 1954-56, 479-481; *M. Leumann, Glottal 35, 1956, 161-171; G.R. Sorta, N.D.B. 13, 1982, 15f.; MNHMH∑ XAPIN. Gedenkschrift P.K. 1-2. 1957 (with life and bibliogr. by R. Meister); briefly D.B.E. 6, 1997, 100; Wikipedia (German with more details).