Born in Germany and trained in Greek, Latin and Sanskrit, Friedrich Max Muller (1823 1900) settled at Oxford, where he would become the university's first professor of comparative philology. Best known for his work on the Rig Veda, he brought the comparative study of language, mythology and religion to a wider audience in Victorian Britain. His lectures at the Royal Institution, published in two volumes between 1861 and 1864, were reprinted fifteen times before the end of the century. Volume 2 contains the twelve 1863 lectures, in which Max Muller argues for the inseparability of the science...

The English polymath Joseph Priestley (1733 1804) wrote on a wide range of scientific, theological and pedagogical subjects. In 1761, he produced the influential textbook Rudiments of English Grammar (also reissued in this series). The following year, having taken up a teaching position at Warrington Academy, he released this outline of nineteen lectures on a variety of linguistic topics. Although it was not published, it was distributed to other dissenting academies. Intended to give teachers a starting point when discussing 'the art of language' in its diverse forms, the lectures range from...

The German linguists Johannes Schmidt (1843-1901) and Hugo Schuchardt (1842-1927) sought to answer many questions relating to the development of Indo-European languages, which are all believed to be descended from a single common ancestor. Schmidt's Verwantschaftsverhaltnisse was originally published in 1872 and Schuchardt's Uber die Lautgesetze followed in 1885; here they are reissued together in one volume. Schmidt's work developed the 'wave model' of language change, to which Schuchardt also subscribed. According to this theory, linguistic innovations spread outwards concentrically like...

While a tutor at Warrington Academy, the polymath Joseph Priestley (1733 1804) established himself as a leading grammarian and educational theorist, producing the influential Rudiments of English Grammar (1761) and A Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language and Universal Grammar (1762), both of which are reissued in this series. In 1762 he also delivered these lectures on rhetorical theory, arguing that the purpose of rhetoric is moral formation. Priestley was deeply influenced by associationism, a theory of mind developed by John Locke and David Hartley. This claims that all complex...

American-born lawyer and author Lindley Murray (1745 1826) was hailed by his admirers as the 'father of English grammar'. First published in 1795 and reissued here in its 1830 forty-fourth edition, English Grammar became the definitive textbook on the subject in the early nineteenth century. Murray divides the work into four sections: orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody. Treating his subject methodically, he reasons that sound instruction in grammar should begin with the form and sound of letters, continue to the different types of words, include guidelines on the construction of...

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 1913), the founder of structuralist linguistics and pioneer of semiotics, began his career as a scholar of Indo-European languages (his early study of the Proto-Indo-European vowel system is also reissued in this series: ISBN 9781108006590). In 1880, Saussure was awarded a doctorate from the University of Leipzig for this study, which appeared in print in 1881. He published almost nothing more during his lifetime. Earlier Indo-Europeanists had noted the almost complete absence of the genitive absolute from Classical Sanskrit texts. Saussure argued that it must have...

Henry Sweet (1845-1912) began at an early age to teach himself Old English and Old Icelandic. Before going up to Oxford, he spent a year at the University of Heidelberg, studying comparative and Germanic philology, and during his undergraduate career he published an edition of King Alfred's Pastoral Care. His enthusiasm for philology led him to pursue a career in research and teaching, though he did not hold a university post until in 1901 he was appointed to a new readership in phonetics at Oxford. His work on the sounds of English was first published in 1874, and in this revised version in...

Thomas Wright (1810 77), a respected folklorist and medievalist, wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. His work is, however, considered broad rather than deep, and his extensive output, while impressive, sometimes came at the expense of quality. Wright was involved in many academic societies, and co-founded the British Archaeological Association in 1843. Much of his work promoted the use of vernacular literature for research into the Middle Ages, and this dictionary, first published in 1857, was compiled to help readers of historical literature navigate unfamiliar vocabulary. It...

Thomas Wright (1810 77), a respected folklorist and medievalist, wrote prolifically on a wide range of subjects. His work is, however, considered broad rather than deep, and his extensive output, while impressive, sometimes came at the expense of quality. Wright was involved in many academic societies, and co-founded the British Archaeological Association in 1843. Much of his work promoted the use of vernacular literature for research into the Middle Ages, and this dictionary, first published in 1857, was compiled to help readers of historical literature navigate unfamiliar vocabulary. It...

The respected phonetician and philologist Henry Sweet (1845 1912) has had a lasting influence on the study and teaching of linguistics, particularly phonetics and Old English. Sweet is also known for being, in part, the inspiration for Henry Higgins in Shaw's Pygmalion. This two-volume work, first published in 1892 8, marks the start of a new tradition in the study of English, although it received little attention in Britain upon its publication. Building on developments in European linguistics, this was the first grammar of English to adopt a scientific approach to the description of...