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…
WULFF, Kurt. Hellerup 4.9.1881 — Copenhagen 4.5.1939. Danish Linguist (Indologist, South-East and East Asian Scholar and Sinologist). Librarian in Copenhagen. Son of Peter Wulff (d. 1898), a cigar manufacturer, and Emma Heydorn, a Holsteinian (German, but politically on Danish side) family. Matriculated in 1900, studied classics at Copenhagen, also linguistics…
WÜST, Walther. Kaiserslautern 7.5.1901 — Munich 21.3.1993. German Indologist and IE Linguist. Professor in Munich. Son of a teacher. From 1920 studies of German, French and Indology at Munich. Ph.D. 1923 Munich. PD 1926 Munich. From 1932 ao. Professor and from 1935 ord. (Oertel’s successor, now for “Arische Kultur- und…
WOOD, Francis Asbury. Point Bluff, Wis. 17.1.1859 — La Jolla, Calif. 19.6.1948. U.S. IE and Germanic Linguist. Professor in Chicago. Son of Rev. Harvey Colcord W. and Ann Jane Ellis. Educated at Northwestern University (A.B. 1880, A.M. 1883). In 1988-90 further studies at Göttingen in Germany. In 1890-93 Professor of…
WOLFENDEN, Stuart N. 1889 — 28.12.1938 (when 47). U.S. Tibeto-Burman Linguist. At University of California, Berkeley. Wolfenden was one of the pioneers of comparative Tibeto-Burman linguistics. Publications: Outlines of Tibeto-Burman Linguistic Morphology with special reference to the prefixes, infixes and suffixes of classical Tibetan and the languages of the Kachin, Bodo,…