SCHLERATH, Bernfried. Leipzig 15.5.1924 — Berlin 30.5.2003. German Indo-Iranian Scholar. The only child of literary editor Dr. Franz Schlerath and Karoline Suter, in 1928 the family moved to Frankfurt. Matriculated 1943, briefly student at Frankfurt, in 1944-45 in the army as wireless operator. Studies of IE, Iranian and Indology at Hamburg (E. Fraenkel, B. Snell, Schubring, Tavadia), Mainz (Specht) and Frankfurt (Lommel). Ph.D. 1951 Frankfurt. In 1950-57 taught Latin and Gothic at Frankfurt, then Assistant of IE Linguistics there. PD 1958 Frankfurt. In 1962 also acting Professor at Saarbrücken, in 1966-67 visiting Professor at Uppsala. In 1965-70 ao. Professor at Frankfurt. In 1969 one year visiting Professor at Colegio de Mexico in Ciudad de México. From 1970 ord. Professor at Marburg, from 1974 Professor of General and Iranian Linguistics at Freie Universität Berlin. Emeritus 1992.
Schlerath was a specialist of IE, Veda and Avesta. He tried to interpret Gathic Avesta through comparison to Veda. He was always keen to open new study lines and the planned new Avestan dictionary was never realized. With IE he tried to understand the cultural development. His further interests included Latin, German and general linguistics. In addition, an oboe-player, cook, gourmet and enthusiastic traveller. Among his students Christoph Koch, Klaus Piper, Ralf-Peter Ritter and Stefan Zimmer completed habilitation.
Publications: Diss. Die Behandlung von y und v nach Konsonant in de metrischen Texten des Avesta. Manuscript of 132 p. Frankfurt 1951.
– Hab.diss. Das Königtum im Rig- und Atharvaveda. 173 p. A.K.M. 33:3. Wb. 1960.
– Awesta-Wörterbuch. Vorarbeiten. 1. Index locorum zur Sekundärlitteratur des Awesta. 32+264 p. 2. Konkordanz. 15+199 p. Wb. 1968.
– Edited: H. Lommel, Die Gathas des Zarathustra. 1971 (transl.).
– Zarathustra. 10+415 p. Wege der Forschung 149. Darmstadt 1970.
– Articles and reviews in KZ, IIJ, Orbis, Paideuma, Oriens, Tribus, OLZ, ZDMG, Kratylos, etc.; e.g. “Gedanke, Wort und Werk im Veda und im Awesta”, Antiquitates Indog. Gedenkschrift H. Güntert 1974, 201-221.
– Die Indogermanen. Das Problem der Expansion eines Volkes im Lichte seiner sozialen Struktur. 38 p. Innsbr. Beitr. zur Sprachwiss. Vorträge 8. Innsbruck 1973.
– Sanskrit Vocabulary. Arranged according to word families with meanings in English, German and Spanish. 10+216 p. Leiden 1980.
– “Wilhelm von Humboldts Ansicht von der Sprache und die Frage der Sprachentstehung”, Berliner wiss. Gesellschaft, Jahrbuch 1982, 89-110.; “Georges Dumézil und die Rekonstruktion der indogermanischen Kultur”, Kratylos 40, 1995, 1-48 & 41, 1996, 1-67.
– Das geschenkte Leben. Erinnerungen und Briefe. 309 p. Dettelbach 2000.
– Kleine Schriften. 1-2. Dettelbach 2000.
Sources: G. Buddruss, ZDMG 155, 2005, 1-7 with photo; *B. Hänsel et al. (ed.), Die Indogermanen und das Pferd. B.S. zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet. Budapest 1994 (with bibliography); S. Zimmer, *JIES 31, 2003, 20, *Kratylos 49, 2004, 231-234 and Encyclop. Iranica 2015 (online); briefly IIJ 6, 1962-63; D.G.K. 17th ed. 1996; Bio-bibliogr. Acta Iran. 20, 1979, 437; teuchos.uni-Hamburg-de; German Wikipedia briefly; three photos, from autobiography, Kleine Schr. and Fs., in TITUS Galeria.
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