Charles Rockwell Lanman

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Charles Rockwell Lanman (1929)

Charles Rockwell Lanman (born July 8, 1850 in Norwich , Connecticut , † February 20, 1941 in Belmont , Massachusetts ) was an American linguist and Indo-Europeanist , who was Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University from 1880 to 1926 .

Life

Charles Rockwell Lanman, the son of textile manufacturer Peter Lanman and his wife Catharine Cook Lanman, studied at Yale University , where he received his bachelor's degree (A.B.) in 1871 and his Ph. D. in 1873 . During his studies he attended lectures and exercises with the lawyer Theodore Dwight Woolsey , the geologist and zoologist James Dwight Dana , the orientalist William Dwight Whitney and the classical philologist James Hadley . Lanman focused on the ancient languages. He acquired extensive knowledge of Greek, Latin and Sanskrit and wrote his doctoral thesis on nasal verbs in these three languages. On the advice of his academic teacher Whitney, Lanman then continued his studies in Germany, where he studied from 1873 to 1876 at the universities in Berlin , Tübingen and Leipzig . The linguists there were among the most respected representatives of the young discipline.

After his return to the United States, Lanman went to Johns Hopkins University as a Sanskrit lecturer in 1876 . As early as 1880 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University , where he remained until his retirement (1926). During this time he received several academic awards. In 1881 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He was a leading member of two professional associations, the American Philological Association (1879-1884 secretary, 1889/90 president) and the American Oriental Society (1884-1894 corresponding secretary, 1907/08 and 1919/20 president). In 1898 he accepted invitations from Johns Hopkins University and the Lowell Institute in Boston, where he lectured as a visiting professor.

Lanman's research focus was the grammar of the Indo-Iranian languages and Indian literature. As a prolific researcher and author as well as editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (1891-1926) he made a decisive contribution to Indo-European research in the USA. His work was also perceived with great interest abroad: in 1905 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences , in 1908 the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg appointed him a foreign corresponding member. In 1930 he was elected a corresponding member of the British Academy .

Fonts (selection)

  • On Noun-Inflection in the Veda . New York 1880
  • A Sanskrit Reader. With Vocabulary and Notes . Boston 1884. New edition 1927
  • Parts of Nala and Hitopadeça in English Letters . Boston 1889
  • The Beginnings of Hindu Pantheism . Cambridge 1890
  • anonymous: Pedigree of Part of the Bidpai Literature Cambridge 1895
  • William Dwight Whitney . Boston 1895
  • The King of Siam's Edition of the Buddhist Scriptures, the Tripitaka . Boston 1895
  • Râja-çekhara's Karpura-Manjarî, a drama by the Indian poet Rajacekhara (about 900 AD) . Cambridge 1900
  • Pāli Book-Titles and Their Brief Designations . Boston 1909 (Reprint from: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Volume 44, pp. 663-707)
  • Hindu Law and Customs as to Gifts . Boston 1913 (Reprint from: Anniversary Papers by Colleagues and Pupils of George Lyman Kittredge . Boston 1913)

literature

  • Ward W. Briggs : Lanman, Charles Rockwell . In: Ward W. Briggs (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists . Westport, CT / London: Greenwood Press 1994, ISBN 978-0-313-24560-2 , pp. 340f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 145.
  2. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 25, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Lanman, Charles Rockwell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lanman, Charles R.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American linguist
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwich , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1941
Place of death Belmont , Massachusetts