August Schleicher

German philologist (1821–1868)

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Writers rank#113

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Fame52.7
Momentum0.4
Writers rank#113
Wikipedia1.7K

Lived 1821–1868, aged 47

WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
45 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1821–1868
Aged 47
Awards
2
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

He wrote a story in a language no one had spoken for thousands of years. Schleicher reconstructed Proto-Indo-European—the lost ancestor of most European and many Asian languages—then composed a fable in it to prove the grammar could work.

Biography

About

August Schleicher was a German linguist born 19 February 1821. He devoted himself to studying Proto-Indo-European, the ancient root language behind most of Europe's tongues, and developed theories that shaped historical linguistics. His major work, A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages, attempted to reconstruct that vanished language from scratch. To demonstrate what he'd rebuilt, he composed Schleicher's fable—a short tale written entirely in reconstructed Proto-Indo-European, using the vocabulary and grammar he'd pieced together and reflecting what could be i…

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