SOMMER, Johann Ferdinand. Trier 4.5.1875 — Munich 3.4.1962. German classical,IE and Hittite Scholar. Professor in Jena and Munich. Son of Philipp Sommer and Johanna Saur. Educated in Kassel, from 1893 studies at Marburg and Freiburg (Thurneysen). Ph.D. 1896 Freiburg (diss. on Celtology). PD 1899 Leipzig. From 1902 ord. Professor of…
SOLMSEN, Felix. Schneidemühl, Hinterpommern (now Piła, Poland) 11.7.1865 — Mehlem near Bonn 13.6.1911. German Classical and IE Linguist. Professor in Bonn. Son of Heinrich Solmsen and Cäcilie Leszczynski. Studies of Classics and Comparative Linguistics at Berlin (J. Schmidt) and Leipzig (Brugmann and Leskien). Ph.D. 1886 Leipzig. PD 1893 Bonn. From…
SLOTTY, Friedrich Karl. Brieg, Bez. Breslau (now Brzeg in Poland) 19.10.1881 — Jena 23.12.1963. German (East) IE Scholar. After school in Brieg, studies of Classics and Comparative Linguistics at Greifswald, Breslau and Jena (i.al. under Cappeller and Delbrück). Ph.D. 1905 Jena (diss. on Latin). Worked as schoolteacher, then PD at…
SIEVERS, Eduard. Lippoldsberg an der Weser, Hessen 25.11.1850 — Leipzig 30.3.1932. German Phonetician, Germanic and IE Linguist. Professor in Leipzig. Son of miner Friedrich Wilhelm Sievers and Dorothea Barnstein. Educated in Kassel. Studies of Classics, Germanic, IE and Semitic at Leipzig and Berlin (under Zarncke, Curtius, Ebert, et al.). Ph.D.…
SHAFER, Robert Lloyd (Schafer). 1893 — 1969. U.S. Linguist and Sino-Tibetan scholar. Ph.D. Director of Sino-Tibetan Linguistic Project at U.C. Berkeley. Famous, but rather much criticised for his brave hypotheses. Publications: “Nahālī, a linguistic study in paleoethnography”, HJAS 5, 1940, 346-371; “Linguistics in History”, JAOS 67, 1947, 296-305; other articles.…
SENN, Alfred. Blotzheim, Alsace (then Germany) 19.3.1899 — Ashford, CT 9.2.1978. Swiss Linguist of Baltic, German and IE in Lithuania and the U.S.A. Born of Swiss parents in Alsace near Swiss border as the son of a farmer, Alfred Senn and Berta Affolter. School in Goldach and St.Gallen, studied at…
SCHERER, Anton. Munich 31.8.1901 — Heidelberg 7.5.1981. German IE Scholar. Professor in Heidelberg. Son of an artisan, educated at Maxgymnasium in Munich. Studied IE, Greek, German, Egyptology and juridics at Munich, under Herbig, Kieckers, Sommer, et al. Ph.D. 1932 Munich (in Greek). In 1932-48 schoolteacher. PD 1947 Munich. In 1948-51…
SCHEFTELOWITZ, Isidor Isaac. Sandersleben/Anhalt 1.5.1875 — Oxford 17/18.12. 1934. German (Jewish) Indo-Iranian Scholar. Professor and Rabbi in Köln. Son of Benjamin Sch. (1848–1918, a rabbi and teacher) and Jenny Epstein. After school in Königsberg worked in trade, from 1897 studies at Königsberg and Berlin. Ph.D. 1901 Königsberg (under Bezzenberger). Rabbinical…
SAUSSURE, Ferdinand de. Geneva 26.9.1857 — Vufflens-le-Château, Vaud 22.2.1913. Swiss Linguist. Professor in Geneva. Son of Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure (1829–1905), a zoologist, and Louise de Pourtalès, the family was originally of Lorraine nobility, settled in Switzerland in the 16th century. His brother was Sinologist Léopold de Saussure (1866–1925).…
SALYS, Antanas. Reketė, North-West Lithuania 21.7.1902— Philadelphia 31.7.1972. Lithuanian IE and Baltic Linguist, later in the U.S.A. Educated in Telsini. Studies at Kaunas and Leipzig (Trautmann). Ph.D. 1929 Leipzig. In 1930-39 PD of IE at Vytautas University in Kaunas, developed experimental phonetics of Lithuanian. In 1941-44 the first Director of…