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Chair of Comparative Philology

Chair of Comparative Philology

The Subject

About half of the world's population speaks an Indo-European language. Now spread all over the globe, this language family has developed from a single pre-historic language spoken before the invention of writing.

Historical Indo-European Linguistics (also called Comparative Philology) studies the Indo-European daughter languages and reconstructs their common ancestor, called Proto-Indo-European (PIE), in various aspects (phonological system, morphology, syntax, lexicon). At the same time, many linguistic features of the individual daughter languages can be explained on the basis of PIE and its subsequent developments into the Germanic languages, Italic (including Romance), Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Celtic languages, Greek, Anatolian (Hittite, etc.), Albanian, and Tocharian. All this is possible because linguistic change is not arbitrary, but based on general principles best visible in phonology and morphology.

The philological treatment of Indo-European languages also leads to insights into the cultural background of the respective language community (history, social structure, religion, philosophy, poetry, etc.). 

Indo-European Linguistics is an interdisciplinary subject, dealing with an area ranging from Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, Ancient Anatolia and Mesopotamiato India and West China and with language records going back as far as the 2nd millenium BC. As a branch of linguistics, it applies linguistic theory/theories to ancient, medieval and early modern language data and provides a wealth of information for theories of language change and language typology. In Würzburg, Indo-European Linguistics participates in the Master's program "General and Applied Linguistics" and collaborates closely with other philological disciplines.

Address

Institut für Altertumswissenschaften
Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
Oswald-Külpe-Weg 84
97074 Würzburg
Phone: +49 (0)931 31 82826
Mail: vgsp@uni-wuerzburg.de

 

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Mon – Fr     8:15 to 12:15                        
 

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Montag 8:15—12:15
Dienstag 8:15—12:15 and 14:30—17:00
Mittwoch 8:15—12:15 and 14:30—17:00
Donnerstag 8:15—12:15
Freitag 8:15—12:15
 
New acquisions 

Main team

Scientific personnel

Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan
Thiago Mendes Venturott (Assistent)
Ulrich Geupel (Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben)

Secretary

Peer Daniel Meißner

 

News

27.06.25 – Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan and Prof. Dr. José Marcos Macedo at the ICAGL

At the International Conference on Ancient Greek Linguistics, Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan and Prof. Dr. José Marcos Macedo will each give a talk.

Programm

22.06.25 – Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan on *h1nedh-

Within the East Coast Indo-European Conference (ECIEC) at the LMU München, Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan will present "Thoughts on *h1nedh-".

19.06.25 – Prof. Dr. José Marcos Macedo on "Word order and information structure in surprise echo questions of Classical Greek drama"

Within the Workshop "Poetry, Prosody and Pragmatics: Linguistic Insights from/on Verse in Indo-European Traditions" (19.–20.06. at the Department of Classics, Trinity College, Dublin), Prof. Dr. José Marcos Macedo will give a talk on "Word order and information structure in surprise echo questions of Classical Greek drama".

Programm

17.06.25 – Dr. Kim on the Kashmir Rigveda: Setting the record straight

A Hindu document from the Kashmir region that is around 550 years old has a history that took a curious path. Dr. Jeong-Soo Kim from the University of Würzburg is dedicated to it.

einBLICK

03.06.25 – Dr. Andrey Shatskov researches the periphrastic perfect in Hittite

Hittite language forms are the focus of a new research project at the Chair of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Würzburg. The project is led by guest researcher Dr. Andrey Shatskov.

einBLICK

30.05.25 – Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan on "Wordplay and exclusion in ancient Greek epic and the magical papyri"

As part of the workshop "Wordplay and Exclusion" organized by the Chair of Romance Studies, Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan will give a lecture on "Wordplay and exclusion in ancient Greek epic and the magical papyri" on 30.05.25 at 14.30.

Event page

07.02.25 – 14th International Congress of Balticists at the University of Vilnius, October 22–25, 2025

On 22-25.10.25 the 14th International Congress of Balticists will take place at Vilnius University. In this context, a workshop organised by Daniel Petit, Sander van Hes and Saverio Dalpedri on the topic ‘At the intersection of historical morphology and syntax: The Baltic verb in a diachronic perspective’ will take place. The call for papers is open until 01.07.25. For more information, please see the PDF file.

PDF

 

Further news…

 

 

Lectures and Events

Jun 23

Frauen auf der Bühne: zur Konzeption weiblicher Rollen in römischen Theaterbildern
Prof. Dr. Heide Frielinghaus (Universität Mainz)

Jun 24

Graeco-Aegyptiaca Online Lecture
The Egyptian Language in the Greek Magical Papyri: Loan-words, phrases, and Old Coptic passages
Korshi Dosoo

Jul 14

Die Diskussion um ideale Weiblichkeit in sumerischen literarischen Frauenstreitgesprächen
Prof. Dr. Jana Matuszak (University of Chicago)

Jul 23

Princes, Snakes and Scorpions
New Investigations in the Early Mesopotamian Incantation Tradition
Nicholas M. Gill (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia)

Recent publications

Kölligan, Daniel, Norbert Oettinger und Stefan Schaffner (Hgg.). 2024[2025]. Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 76/1 & 76/2.

Kuntner, Rok. 2025. Translation of the Genitive Absolute in the Armenian Alexander Romance: Exploring the Shift from Sensus de Sensu to Verbum de Verbo Approach. Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS) 1,2: 63–77. 

Kölligan, Daniel. 2025. A Note on Armenian-Caucasian Albanian Contacts: The Words for “Bishop” and “Maid”. Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS) 1,2: 53–62.

Kölligan, Daniel. 2025. „Walter Belardi’s studies on Indo-European - a few remarks“. In Lingua e storia - Walter belardi a cento anni dalla nascita - Atti del convegno internazionale Roma, 14-15 dicembre 2023, herausgegeben von Paolo di Giovine und Marco Mancini, 133–58. Roma: Il Calamo.

Kölligan, Daniel. 2025. Review of "Don Ringe, The linguistic roots of ancient Greek. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024." Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2025.04.18

Glotta 101/1, hgg. von Jan-Felix Gaertner, Daniel Kölligan & Andreas Willi.

 

Further publications...

The department

The Department of Ancient Studies and its chairs:

Chair of Egyptology
Chair of Near Eastern Studies
Chair of Classical Archeology
Chair of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology

Further links

Würzburg Centre of Ancient Studies (Würzburger Altertumswissenschaftliches Zentrum)
Society for Indo-European Studies

Term information

Summer term 2025
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