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 (1845–1911), a Rechnungsrat, and Johanna Saur. Educated in Trier and Kassel, from 1893 studies at Marburg and Freiburg (Thurneysen). Ph.D. 1896 Freiburg (diss. on Celtology). Further studies at…
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 (1835–1914) and Cäcilie Leszczynski (1842–1899). Studies of Classics and Comparative Linguistics at Berlin (J. Schmidt) and Leipzig (Brugmann and Leskien). Ph.D. 1886 Leipzig. After an…
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 (including Sanskrit) at Greifswald, Breslau and Jena (i.al. under Cappeller and Delbrück). Ph.D. 1905 Jena (diss. on Latin). Worked as schoolteacher in…
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 Catholic Swiss parents in Alsace near Swiss border as the son of a farmer, Alfred Senn and Berta Affolter, home in Bennwill, Canton Basel. School…
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 Scheftelowitz (1848–1918, a rabbi and teacher) and Jenny Yohana Epstein (1849–1909). After school in Königsberg worked in trade, from 1897 studies at Königsberg and Berlin. Ph.D. 1901 Königsberg (under…
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 mineralogist and entomologist, and Louise de Pourtalès, the family was originally of Lorraine nobility, settled in Switzerland in the 16th century. His brother was Sinologist Léopold de…
SALYS, Antanas (Anthony). 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 of comparative linguistics, Slavic and Lithuanian at Kaunas and Leipzig (Trautmann). Ph.D. 1929 Leipzig. In 1930-39 PD of IE at Vytautas University in Kaunas, developed experimental phonetics of…