Gerhard Rohlfs (July 14, 1892 – September 12, 1986) was a German linguist. He taught

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

at the

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. He was described as an "archeologist of words".

Biography

Rohlfs was born in

Berlin-Lichterfelde Lichterfelde () is a locality in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin, Germany. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz, along with Steglitz and Lankwitz. Lichterfelde is home to institutions like the Berlin Botanical Gar ...

. His main interest was the languages and dialects spoken in Southern Italy and he travelled extensively in this region. He studied Italiot Greek (a language still spoken in a few places in

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

, southern Apulia, and in Bovesia, southern Calabria) and found several indications suggesting that Italiot-Greek is a direct descendant of the language originally spoken by the Greek colonists of Magna Grecia. He first advanced this theory in his book ''Griechen und Romanen in Unteritalien'' (1924). He also published two complete vocabularies of the dialects spoken in Bovesia (1938-1939) and in

(1956-1961). His main work is considered to be his ''Historical Grammar of the Italian Language and its Dialects'' (''Historische Grammatik der italienischen Sprache und ihrer Mundarten'', 1949-1954). He received honorary degrees from the

University of Calabria The University of Calabria ( it, Università della Calabria, UNICAL) is a state-run university in Italy. Located in Arcavacata, a hamlet of Rende and a suburb of Cosenza, the university was founded in 1972. Among its founders there were Beniamino ...

in Cosenza and the

University of Salento The University of Salento ( it, Università del Salento, called until 2007 ''Università degli Studi di Lecce'') is a university located in Lecce, Italy. It was founded in 1955 by Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli. The university of Salento commenced act ...

in Lecce. He died in

Selected works

* ''Romanische Sprachgeographie: Geschichte und Grundlagen, Aspekte und Probleme mit dem Versuch eines Sprachatlas der romanischen Sprachen''. C. H. Beck, München 1971. * ''Historische Grammatik der italienischen Sprache und ihrer Mundarten'', 3 Bände, Francke, Bern 1949–1954; Neubearb. unter dem Titel ''Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti'', 3 Bde., Einaudi, Turin 1966–1969 und mehrere Nachdrucke. * Vocabolario dei dialetti salentini (Terra d'Otranto). Verlag der Bayer. Akad. d. Wiss., München, 2 volumes (1956-1957) and 1 supplement (1961) - reprinted by Congedo Editore, (Galatina) in 1976. * ''Rätoromanisch. Die Sonderstellung des Rätoromanischen zwischen Italienisch und Französisch; eine kulturgeschichtliche und linguistische Einführung''. C. H. Beck, München 1975, . * ''Le Gascon. Etudes de philologie pyrénéenne''. Editions Marrimpouey Jeune, Pau & Niemeyer, Tübingen 1977. * ''Sermo vulgaris Latinus. Vulgärlateinisches Lesebuch''. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1951 (Sammlung kurzer Lehrbücher der romanischen Sprachen und Literaturen; Band 13). * ''Lexicon graecanicum Italiae inferioris''. 2., erw. u. völlig neubearb. Aufl. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1964 (1. Aufl. u.d.T.: ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der unteritalienischen Gräzität''). * ''Nuovo dizionario dialettale della Calabria. Con repertorio italo-calabro''. Nuova ed. interamente rielab., ampl. ed aggiornata, 3. rist. Longo Ravenna 1982. * ''Soprannomi siciliani''. Palermo 1984 (Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani. Lessici siciliani; Band 2). * ''Gerhard Rohlfs - La Calabria contadina - Scavo linguistico e fotografie del primo Novecento'', a cura di/Hrsg. Antonio Panzarella, Edizioni Scientifiche Calabresi, Rende 2006, (Bildband mit Fotos, die Rohlfs aufgenommenen und sprachwissenschaftlich kommentiert hat). * ''Primitive Kuppelbauten in Europa''. BAdW. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung München 1957 (it. Ausg. ''Primitive costruzioni a cupola in Europa'', Firenze 1963)

Bibliography

* Hans Helmut Christmann: ''Gerhard Rohlfs (1892–1986)''. In: '' Eikasmós'' 4, 1993, S. 317–320
PDF
. * * Salvatore Gemelli: ''Gerhard Rohlfs (1892–1986). Una vita per l’Italia dei dialetti''. Rom 1990 (mit Schriftenverzeichnis von Liselotte Bihl, S. 237–290, insgesamt 727 Titel). * Utz Maas: ''Verfolgung und Auswanderung deutschsprachiger Sprachforscher 1933-1945''. Band 1: Dokumentation. Biobibliographische Daten A-Z. Stauffenburg Verlag, Tübingen 2010, S. 841

References

External links

*
Veröffentlichungen von Gerhard Rohlfs
im Opac der

Regesta Imperii Papal regesta are the copies, generally entered in special registry volumes, of the papal letters and official documents that are kept in the papal archives. The name is also used to indicate subsequent publications containing such documents, in c ...

* Eintrag "Rohlfs, Gerhard" in Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv, URL: http://www.munzinger.de/document/00000005329 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohlfs, Gerhard 1892 births 1986 deaths Writers from Berlin Linguists from Germany Literature educators Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty Dialectologists Grammarians from Germany Grammarians of Italian German male writers Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies 20th-century linguists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences