THUMB, Albert Joseph Gustav. Freiburg im Br. 18.5.1865 — Freiburg i. Br. 14.8.1915. German IE, Greek and Sanskrit Scholar. Professor in Freiburg i. Br., Marburg and Strassburg. Son of Albert Alois Thumb (1838–1886), an architect, and Ida Schanzenbach. Gymnasium in Freiburg. From 1884 studies at Freiburg (Brugmann), Heidelberg (Osthoff) and Leipzig (again Brugmann). Ph.D. 1888 Freiburg (under Thurneysen, diss. on Greek). PD 1891 Freiburg (hab.diss. on modern Greek), ao. Professor 1895. From 1901 Professor at Marburg and from 1909 at Strassburg. Seriously ill, he returned to Freiburg and died soon. Visited Greece in 1889-90, 1894 and 1912 (studied spoken language).
Thumb was an IE scholar mainly interested in Greek (even modern Greek) and in language psychology, but is well remembered in Indology because of his good introduction into Sanskrit from the viewpoint of historical and comparative linguistics. Among his students was M. Leumann.
Publications: Diss. Untersuchungen über den spiritus asper. 102 p. Strassburg 1888.
– Handbuch der neugriechischen Volkssprache: Grammatik, Texte, Glossar. 31+359 p. Strassburg 1895, 2nd ed. Str. 1910, English transl. 1912; Die griechische Sprache im Zeitalter des Hellenismus. 8+275 p. Str. 1901; Handbuch der griechischen Dialekte. 18+403 p. Heidelberg 1909, 2nd ed. 1932; Grammatik der neugriechischen Volkssprache. 118 p. Berlin: Göschen 1915.
– Handbuch des Sanskrit, mit Texten und Glossar. Eine Einleitung in das sprachwissenschaftliche Studium des Altindischen. 1. Grammatik. 505 p. 2. Texte. 133 p. Heidelberg 1905, 2nd ed. by H. Hirt. 1930; dritte stark umgearbeitete Auflage von R. Hauschild. I:1-2, II. Heidelberg 1953-59.
– “Beiträge zur neugriechischen Dialektkunde”, IF 2, 1893, 65-124; many other articles in IF, often on Greek.
– “Psychologische Studien über die sprachlichen Analogiebildungen”, IF 22, 1907-08, 1-55.
Sources: K.-H. Best & B. Kotrasch, Glottometrics 9, 2005, 82-84; *G.N. Chatzidakis, Idg. Jb. 4, 1916, 235-241; Der Grosse Brockhaus 15th ed. 18, 1934; *bibliography in Idg. Jb. 8, 1920/21, 272-277; German Wikipedia with photo; photo in Idg. Jb. 3, 1915, Rau 82 and TITUS Galeria.
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