The position of Diebold Professor of Comparative Philology (designated the Professor of Comparative Philology 1868–82 and 1925–2003, and known as the Corpus Christi Professor of Comparative Philology 1882–1925) is a professorship in comparative philology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. The professor's duties are "to lecture and give instruction in Indo-European and the history and comparative philology of the Indo-European languages." The professorship was created for the German academic

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born British comparative philologist and oriental studies, Orientalist. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious s ...

in 1868. It was called the "Corpus Christi" Professorship because a commission in 1877, led by Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne, recommended that the richest colleges should help the university by providing funds for chairs. Corpus Christi College was reluctant – partly because of the cost involved at a time when the college's income was affected by an agricultural recession, but also because the fellows of the college feared that they would be outvoted by professors. Although the chair was renamed as the Corpus Christi professorship in 1882 on the basis that provision had been made to endow the chair out of the college's revenues, the college never provided sufficient funds to establish a full endowment for the chair, and its obligation to do so (to the college's relief) was removed in 1925. The chair was renamed in 2003 after Professor

A. Richard Diebold Jr. Albert Richard Diebold Jr. (January 20, 1934 - 1 March 2014) was an American linguistic anthropologist who was Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He specialized in Indo-European studies. Biography Albert Richard Diebold Jr. ...

, to mark his donation to the university to support the chair. It is now associated with a fellowship of

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, although Anna Morpurgo Davies (appointed in 1971) was a fellow of

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

instead because at that time Worcester did not have women fellows.

List of Diebold Professors of Comparative Philology

The academics to have held the position are: * 1868–1900:

** 1876–1890: Archibald Sayce, Deputy Professor ** 1891–1901: Joseph Wright, Deputy Professor * 1901–1925: Joseph Wright * 1925–1952: Gustav Braunholtz * 1952–1971: Leonard Palmer * 1971–2004: Anna Morpurgo Davies * 2005–present:

Andreas Willi Andreas Jonathan Willi (born 17 December 1972 in Altstätten) is a Swiss linguist, philologist, and classicist. He is currently the Diebold Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow of Worcester Colle ...

References

{{reflist Professorships at the University of Oxford Professorships in philology 1868 establishments in England Worcester College, Oxford Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford