HRKAL, Eduard. 18?? — Vienna 11.8.1948. Czech Linguist. Called Professor (1939), probably at the gymnasium of Mariańské Lázně. Active as early as 1895 and 1910 (articles about the French dialect of Picardie). He suggested that Etruscan belongs to the “Turanian division of Ural-Altaic” and apparently invented Turkic etymologies for Etruscan…
GEORGAKAS, Demetrios Ioannes (Δημήτριος Ιωάννης Γεωργακάς; Demetrius John Georgacas). Siderokastro 13.1.1908 — Grand Forks, ND 7.2.1990. Greek Linguist and Classical Scholar in Germany and the U.S.A. Born in Greek Macedonia. Studied Greek literature at Athens in 1826-31, 1934-46 worked as compiler at Greek Academy. From 1938 further studies at Berlin…
GEDNEY, William John. Orchards, Wash. 4.4.1915 — Ann Arbor 14.11.1999. U.S. Linguist, interested in Sanskrit, Pāli and especially Thai. Professor in Ann Arbor. Son of John Marshall G. (d. 1918) and Lillian Viola Woster. Educated at Whitman College (A.B. 1935). Ph.D. in Indic and Far Eastern Languages 1947 at Yale.…
BRAUNHOLTZ, Gustav Ernst Karl. Cambridge 19.3.1887 — 21.4.1967. British Linguist (IE and Classic). Son of Eugen Gustav Br. (1859–1941), German academician who moved in 1884 to Cambridge (note his diss. Die erste nichtchristliche Parabel des Barlaam und Josaphat. Ihre Herkunft und Verbreitung. 8+110 p. Halle 1884). Studies at Cambridge (B.A.…
WRIGHT, Joseph. Idle near Bradford, Yorkshire 31.10.1855 — Oxford 27.2.1930. British Linguist. Son of Dufton Wright (d. 1866), a woollen cloth weaver and quarryman, and Sarah Ann Atkinson, a modest family. Working from childhood in various odd jobs he started night-school when 15, concentrating on languages, and in 1876 went…
THOMAS, Calvin E. near Lapeer, Mich. 28.10.1854 — New York City 4.11.1919. U.S. Linguist and Germanist. Son of farmer Stephen Van Rensselaer Thomas (1831–1905, later lawyer and politician) and Caroline Louisa Lord (1831–1878). Graduated A.B. 1874, A.M. 1877, LL.D. 1904 – all at University of Michigan, 1877-78 further studies at…
TELEGDI, Zsigmond (born Weil). Enyig, county Veszprém 29.12.1909 — Budapest 5.3.1994. Hungarian Linguist. Son of solicitor Ede Weil (d. 1913) and Elza Erzsébet, lost early his father. Grew up in Székesfehérvár and attended Jewish secondary school there 1919-27. Briefly studied at Rabbinical seminary in Budapest, but interrupted and studied Semitic and…
SCHMIDT, Heinrich Wilhelm Arnold. Hörde near Dortmund 16.2.1868 — Fribourg 10.2.1954. Father, S.V.D (Society of the Divine Word). Famous German Anthropologist and Linguist in Austria and Switzerland. Austrian citizen 1902. Son of Heinrich Schmidt (1819–1870), an ironworker, and Anna-Maria Mörs. From 1883 educated by S.V.D. in the Netherlands, in 1890…
SCHELLER, Meinrad. Zürich 17.5.1921 — 24.4.1991. Swiss Sanskrit and IE Scholar. Professor in Zürich. Grew up in Zürich. Studies from 1940 at Zürich under M. Leumann, Pokorny and Risch, also in Paris. Ph.D. 1948 (under Leumann). Further studies 1949-51 in Paris, some time also at Prague. In 1951-54 worked for…
RECZEK, Józef. Szczepanów, Lesser Poland 16.2.1936 — Ibid. 13.2.1988. Polish Indo-European, Slavonic and Iranian Linguist. Son of Alojzy Recheck and Anna Kargol. Studies at Cracow in 1953-59 (i.al. under Pobożniak and T. Milewski). Ph.D. 1967 (diss. on Slavonic), from 1986 taught at Cracow University as Docent. Publications: Hab.diss. Najstarsze slowiańsko–irańskie stosunki językowe.…