Introduction

Adolf Tobler (24 May 1835 – 18 March 1910) was a Swiss-German linguist and a philologist. Born in

Hirzel Hirzel is a former municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen. History Hirzel is first mentioned in 1269 as ''Hir ...

in Zürich, Switzerland, he was a brother to linguist Ludwig Tobler (1827–1895). Adolf Tobler died in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany.

Education and work-life

He studied

Romance philology Romance studies or Romance philology (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is an academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak Romance languages. Romance studies departments usually include the study of Spa ...

at the universities of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1857. At Bonn, he was influenced by the teachings of

Friedrich Christian Diez Friedrich Christian Diez (; 15 March 179429 May 1876) was a German philologist. The two works on which his fame rests are the ''Grammar of the Romance Languages'' (published 1836–1844), and the ''Etymological Dictionary of the Romance Languages ...

and

Nicolaus Delius Nicolaus Delius (19 September 1813 – 18 November 1888) was a German philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and l ...

. After graduation, he worked as a schoolteacher at the

Solothurn Solothurn ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

cantonal school, and then at the gymnasium in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. In 1867, he relocated to the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, where, from 1871 up until his death, he held the chair of Romance philology. In 1890-91, he served as the university rector.Adolf Tobler
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (biography) The "Tobler-Mussafia law", a grammatical rule applicable to Romance languages, is named after Tobler and the Austrian philologist Adolf Mussafia.

Published works

Among his better-written efforts was the five-volume ''Vermischte Beiträge zur französischen Grammatik'' ("Miscellaneous contributions to French grammar";1886–1912). His creation of an

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

dictionary was unfinished at the time of his death, being posthumously edited and published by Erhard Lommatzsch ("Tobler-Lommatzsch", ''Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch''; 11 volumes). Other noted works by Tobler include: * ''Gedichte von Jehan de Condet nach der casanatensischen Handschrift'', 1860 – Poems by Jean de Condé according to the Casanatensian manuscript. * ''Aus der Chanson de geste von Auberi nach einer vaticanischen Handschrift'', 1870 – From the ''

Chanson de geste The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poetry, epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly ...

'' of Auberi, according to a Vatican manuscript. * ''Li dis dou vrai aniel. Die Parabel von dem ächten Ringe, Französische Dichtung des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts'', 1871 – ''Li dis dou vrai aniel''. The parable of the true ring, French poetry of the 13th century. * ''Vom französischen Versbau alter und neuer Zeit. Zusammenstellung der Anfangsgründe'', 1880 – On French versification of old and modern times.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tobler, Adolf 1835 births 1910 deaths People from Horgen District University of Zurich alumni University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Linguists from Switzerland Swiss philologists German philologists Romance philologists Cervantists