Antoine Meillet



Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (French: [ɑ̃twan mɛjɛ]; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936 Châteaumeillant, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he was influenced by Michel Bréal, Ferdinand de Saussure and the members of the L'Année Sociologique. In 1890, he was part of a research trip to the Caucasus, where he studied the Armenian language. After his return, de Saussure had gone back to Geneva so he continued the series of lectures on comparative linguistics that the Swiss linguist had given.

Quotes

 * It remains quite clear, however, that Indic and Iranian developed from different Indo-European dialects, whose period of common development was not long enough to effect total fusion.
 * The Indo-European Dialects by Antoine Meillet (translated by Samuel N. Rosenberg), Alabama Linguistic and Philological Series No. 15, University of Alabama Press, 1967 (original book 1908, second edition 1922). Quoted in Talageri, S. (2000). The Rigveda: A historical analysis. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.