BENFEY, Theodor. Nörten bei Göttingen 28.1.1809 — Göttingen 26.6.1881. German Indologist and IE Scholar. Professor in Göttingen. Born in a Jewish family, son of Isaac B., a merchant and Talmud scholar, who also taught Hebrew to his son. School and studies (1824–) in Göttingen and Munich, mostly classical philology (K.…
BENDER, Ernest. Buenos Aires 2.1.1919 — Philadelphia 18.4.1996. U.S. Indologist. Professor in Philadelphia. Born in Argentina as U.S. citizen, came to Philadelphia in the age of four. Educated there, began studies of classics at Temple University (A.B. 1941). From 1941 PG studies at University of Pennsylvania in Indology (W. N.…
BENARY, Franz Simon Ferdinand. Kassel 22.3.1805 — Berlin 7.2.1880. German Indologist and Orientalist. Professor in Berlin. Born in Kassel in a Jewish family, as a son of the banker Salmon Levy (1770-1828; from 1818 Benary) and Gutheil Meilert (1778-1833), brother of —> Agathon B., himself took Christianity in 1829. From…
BAUDOUIN DE COURTENAY, Jan Ignacy Niecisław (Jean, in Russian Ivan Aleksandrovič Boduèn-de-Kurtenè). Radzymin near Warsaw 13.3.1845 — Warsaw 3.11.1929. Famous Polish Linguist. Son of Alexander B. de C. and Jadwiga Dobrzyńska, the family came from France in 1733. Gymnasium in Warsaw (under Leskien). Studies at Jena under Schleicher, then at…
BARTOLI, Matteo Giulio. Albona, Istria (now Labin in Croatia) 22.11.1873 — Turin 23.1.1946. Italian Linguist. Ph.D. Vienna (Meyer-Lübke). Also studied at Strassburg (Hübschmann) and Paris (Gilliéron). After a short time as eo. at Pisa 1907-08 he was in 1908-46 Professor of Linguistics at Turin. He was the only linguist who…
BARTHOLOMAE, Friedrich Christian Leonhard. Forsthaus in Forstleithen bei Limmersdorf, Landkreis Kulmbach 21.1.1855 — Langeoog, Ostfriesland 9.8.1925. German IE and Iranian Scholar. Professor in Münster, Giessen, and Heidelberg. Son of a forester (Oberforster) Leonhard B. (d. 1859) and Maria Friederike Aichinger. Gymnasium in Bayreuth. From 1872 studied IE, Indian and Iranian…
BARIĆ, Henrik. Dubrovnik 28.1.1888 — Belgrade 3.4.1959. Yugoslavian (Wikipedia Serbian, others Croatian?) Linguist. Born of a poor clerical family. Studies at Graz and Vienna. Ph.D. 1912 Vienna. From 1920 PD, then Professor of Comparative Grammar of IE Languages at Royal Yugoslavian University in Belgrad in the 1930s and till 1954,…
BARDELLI, Giuseppe. Branciolino, Pieve S. Stefano, Arezzo 10.4.1815 — Florence 2.10.1865. Abbate. Italian Indologist and Orientalist (Sinologist and Coptic Scholar). Professor at Pisa, one of the first pioneers of Indian studies in Italy. Tuscan, son of Michelangelo B. and Maria Gabrieli. Began his career as a priest after the seminary…
BALLY, Charles-Louis. Geneva 4.2.1865 — Geneva 10.4.1947. Swiss Linguist and Greek scholar. Son of a teacher, Jean B., and Henriette Ruffini, lost early his father (1870). From 1883 studied mainly Greek philology at Geneva, in the 1890s became de Saussure’s student, now also learned Sanskrit. Further studies at Berlin (dr.ph.…
AUSTERLITZ, Robert Paul. Bucharest, Romania 13.12.1923 — New York 9.9.1994. U.S. (born in Romania) Linguist and Uralic Scholar in U.S.A., wrote on Dravidian in the 1960s. Son of Austrian father and American mother (with Bohemian roots), grew up in Braşov, learned there German, Hungarian and Romanian. Came to the U.S.A.…