Max Müller (redirected from Frederick Maximillian Muller)

Müller, Max 

(Friedrich Max Müller). Born Dec. 6, 1823, in Dessau; died Oct. 28, 1900, in Oxford. English philologist. Specialist in general linguistics, Indology, and mythology. Professor at Oxford University (1854–76).

Müller belonged to the naturalistic school of linguistics; however, unlike A. Schleicher, he regarded language not as a self-sufficient organism but only as a necessary function of the human organism. According to Müller, the development of language is in its growth, its natural development; linguistics, on the other hand, is a natural science. Even before the neogrammarians, Müller emphasized the importance of studying unwritten languages; he pointed out the leading role of living dialectal speech in language development.

Müller translated and published the Rig-Veda (6 vols., 1849–74) and edited the series The Sacred Books of the East (55 vols., 1879–1924).

WORKS

History of the Ancient Sanskrit Literature. London, 1859.
In Russian translation:
Lektsii po nauke o iazyke. St. Petersburg, 1865.
Sravnitel’naia mifologiia. Moscow, 1863.
Nauka o iazyke, issues 1–2. Voronezh, 1868–70.

REFERENCES

Chikobava, A. S. Problema iazyka kak predmeta iazykoznaniia. Moscow, 1959. Pages 51–61.
Müller, G. M. The Life and Letters of F. M. Müller, vols. 1–2. London, 1902.