Adolphe Pictet
Adolphe Pictet (11 September 1799 – 20 December 1875) was a Swiss linguist, philologist and ethnologist. • Illustration — Adolphe Pictet (1824); portrait by Firmin Massot Pictet, the cousin of the biologist Francois Jules Pictet, is well known for his research in the field of comparative linguistics. He played a crucial formative role in the development of Ferdinand de Saussure; "it was Pictet who introduced the thirteen-year-old Saussure to the theoretical foundations of Indo-European linguistics." But he was also "a dedicated champion of German Romanticism and idealist philosophy": Like French, English, and Russian Romantics since the beginning of the century, he made a journey to Germany, where he became acquainted with A. Schlegel (with whom he maintained an important correspondence over the course of many years), Goethe, Hegel, Schleiermacher, and Schelling.. In the spirit of earlier wars between “romantics” and “classics” (a little outmoded by the 1850s), Pictet envisioned Romanticism, with its embrace of pluralism and freedom of invention, as standing in sharp opposition to Classicism, the embodiment of systemic compactness and uniformity.
Adolphe Pictet
Firmin Massot · Jean-Daniel Candaux, "Histoire de la famille Pictet", Genève, Braillard, 1974 · Public domain
- Born
- Adolphe Pictet was born on 11 September 1799. · Lancy.
- Died
- Adolphe Pictet died on 20 December 1875. · Geneva.
- Nationality
- France · Republic of Geneva · Switzerland
- Occupation
- linguist · philologist · indo-europeanist · writer
- Fields
- linguistics · ballistics · philosophy
- Education
- University of Geneva · University of Paris · University of Berlin · University of London
- Honours
- Knight of the Legion of Honour · Volney Prize
- Languages
- French
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Authority files
wikidata · Q123597 · wikipedia · Adolphe Pictet
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Life
Life
Pictet "represented the first, Romantic generation of historical linguists, for whom the history of language went hand in hand with the history of the material and spiritual being of the people who spoke it"; his magnum opus was Origines indo-européennes: Essaie de paléontologie linguistique (1859–63), a "monumental attempt, in the tradition of Friedrich Schlegel and Jakob Grimm, to reconstruct the whole world of the proto-Indo-Europeans."
Adolphe Pictet studied at University of Geneva, University of Paris and University of Berlin. Ferdinand de Saussure is recorded as having studied under Adolphe Pictet. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is linguistics, ballistics and philosophy. Employment is recorded with University of Geneva. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour and Volney Prize.
He was born in Geneva on 11 September 1799 the son of Charles Pictet de Rochemont.
Documentary record
Adolphe Pictet lived from 11 September 1799 to 20 December 1875 and was a philologist, writer and “Indogermanist”. Adolphe Pictet was born on 11 September 1799 and died on 20 December 1875. The birthplace of Adolphe Pictet is recorded as Lancy by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and as Genève, Suisse by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The place of death of Adolphe Pictet is recorded as Genf by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and as Gen-ve, Suisse by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Works
Works
• De l'affinité des langues celtiques avec le Sanscrit (1837) • Du beau dans la nature (2nd ed. 1875) • Les origines indo-européennes ou les Aryas primitifs: essai de paléontologie linguistique. 3 vols. Paris: Joël Cherbuliez, 1859–1863 (republished 1878).
Identity
Identity
Adolphe Pictet is recorded with the occupation Indo-Europeanist. Recorded as linguist, philologist, indo-europeanist and writer. Career and activity. Pictet worked in linguistics, ballistics and philosophy. He was employed by University of Geneva. He belonged to Royal Society of Edinburgh and Académie de Stanislas (Nancy, France).
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1799–1875
The full dated record · 3 entries
1799
Adolphe Pictet was born on 11 September 1799.
1853
Le mystère des bardes de l'ile de Bretagne ou la doctrine des bardes gallois du moyen age sur Dieu, la vie future et la transmigration des ames texte original, traduction et commentaire Adolphe Pictet (1853) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1875
Adolphe Pictet died on 20 December 1875.
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Adolphe Pictet was born at Lancy.
Birthplace
Adolphe Pictet died at Geneva.
Deathplace
Lancy.
Birth place
Geneva.
Death place
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Adolphe Pictet, revision 1296287547 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jean-Daniel Candaux, Histoire de la famille Pictet 1474-1974, Genève, Braillard, 1974, p. 405.
- 2.Nicolas Durand et Société Genevoise de généalogie. Adolphe PICTET.
- 3.AntiQbook. Une course à Chamounix. Conte fantastique. Introduction de Robert Bory.
- 4.Les origines indo-européennes, ou Les Aryas primitifs : essai de paléontologie linguistique. 1859.
- 5.Bernard Gagnebin. Amiel ou la revanche de l'écriture sur la vie.
- 6.CAT.INIST. Pictet's Du Beau (1856) and the crystallisation of Saussurean linguistics.
- 7.Bulletin de l'IGN. books.google.com. 138. 1856.
- 8.Adolphe Pictet, Essai sur les propriétés et la tactique des fusées de guerre, Turin, Chez Antoine Pavesio, 1848.
- 9."The Army & Navy Register and the Woolwich Gazette", août 1843.
- 10.De l'affinite des langues celtiques avec le sanscrit par Adolphe Pictet. Duprat. 1837.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Histoire de la famille Pictet 1474-1974. Etienne Braillard. 2. 1974.
References
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Adolphe Pictet studied at University of Geneva, University of Paris, University of Berlin and University of London. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Adolphe-Basile RouthierAuthor
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