Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny ( born June 12, 1887 in Prague, † April 8, 1970 in Zurich ) was a linguist and Keltologe German - Jewish origin. He saw himself as a life- German.
Life
Julius Pokorny studied at the University of Vienna, where he taught 1913-1920. From 1920 he held the chair of Celtic philology at the Friedrich -Wilhelms -University of Berlin until it was in 1933 despite the Catholic faith delivered by the Nazis because of his Jewish grandparents on the basis of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of his teaching. Already on 23 November 1933, the leave was canceled. On August 27, 1934 Pokorny swore an oath to Hitler. Two months after the adoption of the Reich Citizenship Law, he was finally granted leave. However, his leave of absence was later - in contrast to other forced furloughs - converted into a retirement. He then took on a extensive travels. In May 1936 he received a Certificate of No local Nazi group that secured him a state pension. Before the " Kristallnacht " he was warned, so that he could leave for Belgium in time.
He was the Celtic languages and cultures very fond, supported the Irish independence movement and was among others Roger Casement in contact. He was editor of the Journal of Philology celtische before the Second World War and was responsible for its resumption after the war. In his work we find strong racial- nationalist tendencies.
It was not until 1943 he emigrated to Switzerland, where he taught for several years at the Universities of Bern and Zurich until his retirement in 1959. In 1954 he participated in an honorary professorship at the Ludwig- Maximilians- University of Munich, where he taught in 1956 and 1960-1965. Pokorny is the author of Indo-European Etymological dictionary (1958 ), which found only partial successor to today. He died in Zurich, three weeks after a tram accident.
Writings
- Julius Pokorny: Indo-European etymological dictionary. 2 vols Francke, Bern / Munich 1947-66 ( 1.Aufl. ), 2005 ( 5th ed. ). ISBN 3772009476
- Editor of the Journal of Philology celtische. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1.1897ff. ISSN 0084-5302