Karl Friedrich Geldner

Karl Friedrich Geldner
Born	December 17, 1852 Saalfeld, Saxe-Meiningen
Died	February 5, 1929 Marburg, Hesse-Nassau
Occupation	Linguist

Karl Friedrich Geldner (December 17, 1852 – February 5, 1929) was a German linguist best known for his analysis and synthesis of Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit texts.

Geldner was born in Saalfeld, Saxe-Meiningen, where his father was a Protestant clergyman.

Geldner studied Sanskrit and Avestan at the University of Leipzig in 1871 before moving to the University of Tübingen in 1872. He received a doctorate in Indological studies in 1875, and became a privatdozent following his habilitation in 1876. In 1887, Gelder moved back to the north-east, this time to Halle, where he was appointed extraordinary professor in 1890, followed by an extraordinary faculty-chairmanship at the University of Berlin a few months later.

Geldner lectured in Berlin for 17 years. In 1907, he moved to the University of Marburg where he had been appointed ordinary professor. He retired from active teaching in 1921, and remained in Marburg until his death in 1929.

Geldner's first significant publication, though made public only in 1877, was written while he was still a doctoral student. The essay, which was in its expanded and published form titled Über die Metrik des jüngeren Avesta ("On the meter of the Younger Avesta"), was originally an answer to a prize essay question posed by the University of Tübingen's Faculty of Philosophy. His analysis revealed that although the texts had not retained a metrical form, the majority of the manuscripts were in 8 syllable verse (10 or 12 syllable lines also occurred).

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