Rasmus Rask

Rasmus Christian Rask ( born November 22, 1787 Brændekilde ( Fyn ), † November 14, 1832 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish Indo-Europeanist and polyglot. He spoke 25 languages ​​and dialects, more than 50 he had studied.

Life

Rask turned early to the study of the Nordic and other related languages ​​. According to a study trip to Iceland, he published in 1818 the work Undersøgelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse ( German: study on the origin of the Old Norse or Icelandic language ). In this he postulated a relationship between the Germanic, Latin, Slavonic and Greek. He finished his work may already 4 years ago, but already published in 1816 Franz Bopp be " Conjugationssystem " so that his work in the professional world not received the expected attention.

In order to study the distant relatives of the Thracian languages ​​, he undertook with the financial support of the royal house from 1816 on a trip to India. She led over Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Astrakhan, Tbilisi and Persia to Bombay ( 1820) and Ceylon. Here he was able to acquire valuable Pahlavi and Pali manuscripts. After his return to the University of Copenhagen in 1823 he was appointed professor of the history of literature, and later appointed the Oriental. In 1825 he founded, together with Carl Christian Rafn the Nordic Altschriftgesellschaft.

1823 designed Rask a posteriori constructed language, but it has been published only from the estate out and did not influence the subsequent discussion. The peculiarity lies in the modern argument of Rask for a planned language, and in the early stage - until the second half of the 19th century, it came to a wave of planned language projects.

His in-depth and systematic studies of the Old Norse language for syntax and phonology provided evidence that they are closely related with the other Germanic, but also with the Slavic and Baltic languages ​​as well as Latin and Greek. The German philologist Jacob Grimm was aware of this written in Danish work and wrote a review to where he only showed that he had not understood Rasks approach. Only a few years later used Jacob Grimm Rasks results without making clear where he actually moved. Since Rask published his work in Danish only, there was also no danger that this dishonorable behavior would be noticed. Rasks defense went unheeded. Therefore, the so-called " Grimm's law" referred to by some scholars as " Rask 's Grimm's rule". Likewise, ground-breaking work on the Zend language was Rasks in which he proved that the language of the Parsis to the Sanskrit is closely related. The Ural-Altaic and Caucasian language families could Rask treat in detail before his early death.

On one of his many travels he has been included in Ceylon in the covenant of the Freemasons. He lies on his Assistants Cemetery in Copenhagen Nørrebro buried.

Writings

  • Undersøgelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse, Copenhagen 1818
  • Spansk Sproglære ', 1824
  • Frisisk Sproglære, Copenhagen 1825
  • Dansk Retskrivingslære, Copenhagen 1826
  • Italiænsk Formlære, 1827
  • The gamle Ægyptiske Tidsregning, Copenhagen 1827
  • Vejledning til Akra - Sproget på Kysten Ginea, 1828
  • The ældste hebraiske Tidsregning indtil Moses efter Kilderne på ny og bearbejdet forsynft med et Kart over Paradis, Copenhagen 1828
  • A Grammar of the Danish language for the use of Englishmen, 1830
  • Ræsonneret lappisk Sproglære, 1832
  • Engelsk formlære, 1832
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