Piero Meriggi

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Piero Meriggi (born January 12, 1899 in Como , † June 29, 1982 in Pavia ) was an Italian classical philologist , linguist and Indo-Europeanist .

After graduating from high school, Meriggi studied Classical Philology, Indo-European Studies , Romance Studies and Sanskrit in Pavia . There he was after his military service in the First World War in December 1922 with a thesis on the Lycian Language doctorate . After teaching for a year at a grammar school in Como, he received a teaching position for Italian at the University of Hamburg in the winter semester of 1922/23 . The Africanist Carl Meinhof influenced him in his work there . In Hamburg he was born on August 3, 1930 habilitated with an unpublished work that later basis for his essay Sur la structure des langues> group antes < was, and received Venia legendi for General comparative linguistics . From 1934 onwards, several attempts by the university to find him a professorship were rejected by the Reich Ministry of Education because he was unable to provide evidence of his wife's Aryan status. When the application was finally approved in 1940, Meriggi refused the appointment because she would have obliged him to take over German citizenship and thus to take the oath of service to Adolf Hitler . At the same time, the fascist Italian government demanded that he be removed from the German civil service because of his anti-fascist stance. As a result, the university had to resign him on instructions from the ministry and revoke his teaching license. Meriggi stayed in Hamburg until 1945 and returned to Italy after the war. In 1949 he received a professorship for general linguistics in Pavia .

Merigi's research focus in Hamburg was on the African languages , where he worked closely with Giulio Panconcelli-Calzia , head of the phonetic institute there. Since his dissertation, however, he has been particularly interested in the Indo-European Old Anatolian languages , Hittite , Palaean , Luwian and Lycian. He dealt with the deciphering of what was then called Hieroglyphic Hittite, today known as Hieroglyphic Luwian . This resulted in his Hieroglyphic-Hittite Glossary . Finally, he also researched the reading of the Cretan Linear A and Linear B scripts , the Elamite and the Indus script .

Fonts (selection)

  • The longest building inscriptions in "Hittite" hieroglyphs. In addition to a glossary for all texts (= messages from the Middle East-Egyptian Society. 39, 1, ZDB -ID 208277-9 ). Hinrichs, Leipzig 1934.
  • Italian. With pronunciation instructions, a grammatical summary and Italian subject index. Juncker, Berlin 1942, (several editions).
  • Hieroglypic-Hittite glossary. 2nd, completely reworked edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1962.
  • Schizzo grammaticale dell'anatolico (= Atti della Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di Science Morali, Storiche e Filologiche. Memorie. Series 8, Vol. 24, No. 3, ISSN  0391-8149 ). Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, Rome 1980.

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personal data
SURNAME Meriggi, Piero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian classical philologist and Indo-Europeanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Como
DATE OF DEATH June 29, 1982
Place of death Pavia