NIEDERMANN, Max Jakob. Winterthur 19.5.1874 — Neuchâtel 12.1.1954. Swiss Linguist (Classical and IE). Professor in Basel and Neuchâtel. Son of merchant Jakob N. and Regula Susanna Stolz. Educated in Winterthur. Studies at Zürich (1893-94) and Basel (1894-97, especially under Wackernagel), Ph.D. 1897 Basel. Then further studies in Paris (Meillet and L. Havet) and Freiburg i.Br. (Thurneysen). From 1899 PD of Comparative Linguistics, esp. Latin, at Basel, 1903 PD at Neuchâtel, 1905 ao. Professor there, 1909 at Basel. In 1900-06 also teacher at gymnasium in La Chaux-de-Fonds. From 1911 ord. Professor für vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft und Sanskrit at Basel, from 1925 Professeur de langue et littérature latines et de linguistique at Neuchâtel (where he already had taught linguistics in 1909–25). In 1944 emeritus, but continued teaching as Honorarprofessor. Hon. dr. Riga (1929), Geneva (1944) and Besançon (1947). Married 1903 Jeanne Augusta Pierrehumbert. Two sources disagree, whether he left Basel in 1925 or continued teaching also there.
Publications: Diss. ĕ und ĭ im Lateinischen. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des lateinischen Vokalismus. 8+126 p. Darmstadt 1897.
– “Etymologische Forschungen”, IF 15, 1903-04, 104-121 (IE & Class.); “Zur indogermanischen Wortforschung”, IF 37, 1916-17, 145-155.
– Historische Lautlehre des Lateinischen. 17+214 p. Heidelberg 1907, 3rd ed. 1953, also in French.
– Other studies on Latin, also a few on Lithuanian.
Sources: *G. Redard, Vox Romanica 13, 1954, 445-451 with photo; *W. de Sousa, Euphrosyne 1, 1957, 251-255; R. Wachter, Hist. Lex. der Schweiz (online); brief account and photo in Basel University Web pages; German Wikipedia.
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