Gustav Meyer (25 November 1850 – 28 August 1900) was a
German linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingui ...
and
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
scholar, considered to be one of the most important
Albanologists of his time,
most importantly by proving that the
Albanian language
Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...
belongs to the
Indo-European family
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dut ...
.
Life and works
Meyer was born in
Groß Strehlitz
Strzelce Opolskie (german: Groß Strehlitz, szl, Wielge Strzelce) is a town in southern Poland with 17,900 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Strzelce County.
Demographics
Strzelce Opolskie is one of th ...
in the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...
(present-day Strzelce Opolskie in modern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
). In 1867 he enrolled in the
Breslau University (now University of Wrocław) to study
classical philology
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
, Indo-European languages,
Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
, and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...
. He was there influenced by philologists
Martin Hertz and
Adolf Friedrich Stenzler. In 1871 he defended his dissertation ''De nominibus graecis copositus''. In the same year he was named assistant professor at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded i ...
, and a year later professor of ancient languages in the same university.
He went on to work as a
gymnasium teacher in
Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
, from 1874 in
Malá Strana
Malá Strana ( Czech for "Little Side (of the River)", ) or more formally Menší Město pražské () is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic neighbourhoods.
In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a tempera ...
at the intercession of
Wilhelm von Hartel, and was appointed outside lecturer (''Privatdozent'') at the
Charles University
)
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, established =
, type = Public, Ancient
, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
, students = 51,438
, underg ...
in 1876. The next year he was named professor of Sanskrit and
comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness.
Genetic relatedness i ...
at the
University of Graz
The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria.
History
The univers ...
, where he pursued studies of
Ancient Greek,
Turkish, and
Albanian. During this period he published his study ''Contribution on the theory of word-formation in Greek and Latin'' (1872).
Full professor at the University of Graz from 1881, Meyer started to focus his studies on
albanology
Albanology, also known as Albanian studies, is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the language, costume, literature, art, culture and history of Albanians. Within the studies the scientific methods of literature, linguis ...
, and prepared the foundations of the discipline by publishing the following works:
# Albanesische Studien, I, (1882);
# Etymologisches Wörterbuch der albanesischen Sprache, Strassburg, (1891);
# Kurzgefasste albanesische Grammatik, Leipzig, (1888);
# Zum indogermanischen - Perfectum auf die albanesische Formenlehre, published in the ''Miscellanea di filologia e linguistica in memoriam'' by Napoleone Caix e Angelo Canello, Firenze, (1886);
# Die lateinischen Elemente im Albanesischen, published by Gröbers Grundriss, I, I. Auflage (1888) etj.
Meyer is considered to be the linguist that scientifically proved that the Albanian language belongs to the
Indo-European family
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dut ...
.
He is known to have held a long correspondence with
Jeronim de Rada, an Albanian leading figure of the
Albanian National Awakening
The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...
.
Gustav Meyer died on August 27, 1900 in
Straßgang near
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...
. In honour of his contributions to Albanology a grammar school in
Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares l ...
bears his name.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Gustav
Albanologists
Linguists from Austria
Austrian philologists
People from Strzelce Opolskie
1850 births
1900 deaths
University of Göttingen faculty
Academics of the University of Graz
University of Breslau alumni
Austro-Hungarian Jews