The New International Encyclopædia/Schmidt, Johannes

SCHMIDT, Johannes (1843-1901). A German philologist, born at Prenzlau, Prussia, and educated at Bonn and Jena. In 1868 he obtained a position as docent in comparative philology at Bonn and became adjunct professor in 1873. In the same year he was called to the professorship of comparative philology at Gratz, and in 1870 he accepted a similar chair in Berlin, where he remained until his death. His first important contribution was his ‘wave theory’ with reference to the relationship of the Indo-Germanic languages, (See Philology.) Among the most important of his numerous works were: Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen (1872); Ueber die Theilung des indogermanischen Sprachstammes (1873); Zur Geschichte des indogermanischen Vokalismus (1875); Die Pluralbildungen der indogermanischen Neutra (1889); Die Urheimat der Indogermanen und das europäische Zahlsystem, (1890); and Kritik der Sonantentheorie (1895). He was joint editor with Ernst Juhn of the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung from 1875 until his death.