Rudolf Thurneysen

Eduard Rudolf Thurneysen (March 14, 1857–9 August 1940) was a Swiss linguist and Celticist.

Born in Basel, Thurneysen studied classical philology in Basel, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. He received his promotion (approximating to a doctorate) in 1879, and his habilitation, in Latin and Celtic languages, followed at the University of Jena in 1882.

From 1885 to 1887 he taught Latin at Jena, then moving to the University of Freiburg-im-Breisgau where he replaced Karl Brugmann, a renowned expert in Indo-European linguistics.

In 1909 Thurneysen published his Handbuch des Alt-Irischen, translated into English as A Grammar of Old Irish by D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, and still in print as of 2006. In 1913 he moved to Bonn University. It is in this period that Thurneysen has been called the greatest living authority on Old Irish.

He retired in 1923 and died in Bonn in 1940. The Rudolf Thurneysen Memorial Lecture (German: Vortrag in Memoriam Rudolf Thurneysen), given at Bonn, is named in his honour.

Select bibliography

• A grammar of Old Irish (translated by D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, reprinted 2003. ISBN 1-85500-161-6
• Old Irish reader (translated by D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, reprinted 1981. ISBN 0-901282-32-4
• Scéla mucce Meic Dathó, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, reprinted 2004. ISBN 1-85500-022-9

External links

• Thurneysen-Archiv der Keltologie Bonn
• Works by Thurneysen online at University College Cork's CELT project
• Select bibliography at University College Cork's CELT project
• (German) TITUS-Galeria: Pictures of Rudolf Thurneysen