Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper

Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper (* July 7, 1907 in 's- Gravenhage, † 14 November 2003 in Zeist ) was a Dutch Indologist and Indo-Europeanist.

Life and work

Kuiper studied Latin and Greek, Sanskrit and Indo-European Linguistics at Leiden University. One of his teachers was Willem Caland. In 1934 he completed his dissertation on Nasalpräsentia in Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages ​​. Then he took a position as Latin and Greek teaching in Jakarta, even in the sphere of influence of Indian culture on. In 1939 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit at the University of Leiden. His teaching spectrum consisted of Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and Mittelindoarisch and Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. One of his students was Jan Willem de Jong. Along with it he founded the prestigious Indo -Iranian Journal. 1984 elected him the Austrian Academy of Sciences corresponding member.

Kuiper has produced for the Indo-European and the Vedaforschung, especially the Ṛgvedaforschung, breakthrough results and " is characterized by versatility with which everything was built almost what somehow related to the languages ​​and cultural world of India [ in a sense ]: the indogermanistischen foundations as well as the ancient Iranian Closest relationship, the non- Indo-European language families in India as well as the certificates of a pan- Indian ' Sprachbund '; essential to religion and mythology, as well as the cultural history in general. "

This also included questions about how the Indo-European laryngeals to the Vedic phonology, the nominal and verbal system, and have exerted on the Sandhi of the Vedic poets language. The laryngeal theory was rejected at that time still in wide circles of historical linguistics. The reorganization of the Indo-European morphology away from the root class principle, going back to Ferdinand de Saussure, towards accent and ablaut classes is the result of his work Notes on Vedic noun - inflection. In the congratulatory letter from the Austrian Academy for the 80th birthday of Kuiper says: " The modern Indo-European ... looking at you as one of their ancestors ."

He has also produced a lot of work on the structure of Ṛgvedischen religion. His Avestan studies reveal, among other things, how the Avesta associated with the Veda. One focus of his work lies precisely in the study of substrates of Dravidian and Austro-Asiatic languages ​​in the altindoarischen texts of India, a subject that has certain implications in terms of then- ethnographic conditions, especially in the context of the debate on the migration of the Aryans.

Comments

Publications (selection )

  • The Indo-European Nasalpräsentia. An attempt at a morphological analysis. Amsterdam 1937
  • Notes on Vedic noun - inflection. Amsterdam 1942 [= Selected writings, pp. 439-530 ]
  • Shortening of final vowels in the Rigveda. Amsterdam 1955 [= Selected writings, pp. 284-320 ]
  • The genesis of a linguistic area. In: Indo -Iranian Journal 6 (1962 ), pp. 52-64 [= Selected writings, pp. 78-99 ]
  • Varuna and Vidūṣaka. On the origin of the Sanskrit drama. Amsterdam [ etc.] 1979
  • Ancient Indian cosmogony. Essays selected and Introduced by John Irwin. Delhi 1983
  • Aryans in the Rigveda. Amsterdam [ etc.] 1991
  • Selected writings on Indian linguistics and philology. Ed. by A. Lubotsky, M. S. Oort, M. Witzel. Amsterdam [ etc.] 1997 ( Leiden Studies in Indo-European 8), ISBN 90-420-0235-2
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