Filippo Sassetti ( Italian: Filippo Sassetti , 1540 , Florence , Italy - 1588 , Goa , India ) - Italian traveler and merchant from an old family of merchants in Florence. It is considered one of the forerunners of comparative historical linguistics .
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He was one of the first Europeans who (in the 16th century) became interested in the ancient language of India - Sanskrit . Filippo Sassetti, having been in India for five years (from 1583 until his death in 1588), noticed a striking genetic similarity between the numerals of Latin , Indian and Italian . For example, the numeral is two : lat. duo , skt. dvau , it. due . He also drew attention to the similarity of other Sanskrit words and Italian: virgo / dio 'God', sarpa / serpe 'snake' and others. Filippo Sassetti reported on his observations in one of his letters from India. However, he did not draw scientific conclusions from this, but merely stated the fact itself. During his lifetime, these letters were never published.
Sources
- Kovalik I. General Linguistics. History of linguistic thought. - K .: Higher school, 1985.
- Marcucci EM, Lettere edite e inedite di Pilippo Sassetti raccolte e annotate, Firenze 1855.
- Muller Jean-Claude, Early stages of language comparison from Sassetti to Sir William Jones (1786), Kratylos 1986 31.1-31.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 BNF identifier : Open Data Platform 2011.
- ↑ SNAC - 2010.