Gustav Weigand (1 February 1860 – 8 July 1930) was a German

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and specialist in

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

languages, especially Romanian and Aromanian. He is known for his seminal contributions to the dialectology of the Romance languages of the Balkans and to the study of the relationships between the languages of the Balkan sprachbund. He has also provided substantial contribution to Aromanian studies, an example of this being the discovery and publication of the contents of the Codex Dimonie. Weigand was born in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, in the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

. He studied

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and wrote a doctoral thesis about the language of the

Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...

in Livadi in the region of

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

in 1888, followed by a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

thesis on the

Megleno-Romanian language Megleno-Romanian (known as by its speakers, and Megleno-Romanian or Meglenitic and sometimes Moglenitic or Meglinitic by linguists) is an Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance language, similar to Aromanian language, Aromanian. It is spo ...

in 1892. In 1893 he founded the Romanian Institute at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, the first such institution outside Romania. During the following years he continued to conduct extensive personal field studies in the Balkans. In 1908 he published a ''Linguistic Atlas of the Daco-Romanian speech area'', the first work of its kind in the field of Romance linguistics. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was sent by the German authorities to conduct ethnographic studies in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, then under German occupation. The results were published in 1923. In recognition of his research on the Romanian language, Gustav Weigand was elected as a foreign member of the Romanian Academy in 1892. He was also a foreign member of the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; , ''Bŭlgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated БАН) is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy, with headquarters in Sofia, is autonomous and consists of a S ...

and of the

Macedonian Scientific Institute The Macedonian Scientific Institute (MSI; ) is a Bulgarian scientific organization, which studies the region of Macedonia and mostly the Macedonian Bulgarians. The Institute issues the journal "Macedonian Review". Establishment and activity It wa ...

. He died in Belgershain.

Major works

*(1888): ''Die Sprache der Olympo-Walachen''. Johann Ambrosius Barth: Leipzi

*(1892): ''Vlacho-Meglen. Eine ethnographisch-philologische Untersuchung''. Leipzig

*(1908): ''Linguistischer Atlas des dacorumänischen Sprachgebiets''. Barth: Leipzig

*(1923): ''Ethnographie Makedoniens''. Leipzig.

References

*Bochmann, Klaus (2005)
"Gustav Weigand: Zum 75. Todestag am 8. Juli 2005"
University of Leipzig. (pdf)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weigand, Gustav 1860 births 1930 deaths People from Duisburg People from the Rhine Province German philologists Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Corresponding Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Members of the Macedonian Scientific Institute Aromanian studies Balkan studies