Lectures on the Science of Language

by F. Max Müller

Lectures on the Science of Language is a book written by F. Max Muller, a renowned philologist and Orientalist. The book is a collection of lectures that Muller delivered at the Royal Institution in London in 1861 and 1863. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part discussing the nature of language, its origin, and its development. Muller argues that language is a unique characteristic of human beings, and that it is the primary means by which we communicate and express our thoughts and emotions. He also explores the various theories of language evolution, including the divine origin theory and the naturalistic theory. In the second part of the book, Muller delves into the study of languages and their classification. He discusses the different families of languages, such as the Indo-European, Semitic, and Chinese families, and examines their similarities and differences. Muller also explores the role of language in shaping culture and society, and how language can be used as a tool for understanding the history and development of different civilizations. Overall, Lectures on the Science of Language is a comprehensive and insightful examination of the nature, origins, and study of language. It remains a seminal work in the field of linguistics and continues to be widely read and studied today.1864. This second series of lectures were delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in February, March, April and May 1863. Most of the topics treated in them had for many years formed the subject of Muller's public courses as Oxford. In casting his notes into the shape of lectures to be addressed to a more advanced audience, he left out many things that were merely elementary, and made several additions in order to show the bearing of the science of language on some of the more important problems of philosophy and religion. language and reason; physiological alphabet; phonetic change; Grimm's law; on the principles of etymology; on the powers of roots; metaphor; mythology of the Greeks; Jupiter, the supreme aryan god; myths of the dawn; modern mythology.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Linguistics

610 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Friedrich Max Müller, K.M. (Ph.D., Philology, Leipzig University, 1843)—generally known as Max Müller or F. Max Müller—was the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University, and an Orientalist who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology and the Sacred Books of the East, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction.

Müller became a naturalized British citizen in 1855. In 1869, he was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres as a foreign correspondent. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite (civil class) in 1874, and the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art the following year. In 1888, he was appointed Gifford Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, delivering the first in what has proved to be an ongoing, annual series of lectures at several Scottish universities to the present day. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1896.

His wife, Georgina Adelaide Müller was also an author. After Max's death, she deposited his papers at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.