Alfredo Trombetti (16 January 1866 in Bologna – 5 July 1929 in Venice) was an Italian linguist active in the early 20th century.

Alfredo Trombetti
Portrait of Alfredo Trombetti
Born16 January 1866
Died5 July 1929
NationalityItalian
OccupationLinguist
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Bologna
Main interestsComparative linguistics
Notable ideasMonogenesis

Career overview

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Trombetti was a professor at the University of Bologna. He was a member of the Italian Academy.

He is best known as an advocate of the doctrine of monogenesis, according to which all of the world's languages go back to a single common ancestral language. His arguments for monogenesis were first presented in his book L'unità d'origine del linguaggio, published in 1905.[1] This doctrine is still extremely controversial.

Proposed etymologies

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A selection of Trombetti's proposed global etymologies:[1]

Meaning Root
to hear; ear kul (kur)
water ma; wad (wad, wed, wod), ud
dog ku (ku-ari, ku-ri, etc.)
hair tuk, suk
behind, back kata, taka
foot ganga; pat
earth (clay, ash) tu
dust twar, tur (< tu 'earth')
woman na (nai)
man (person) ku, etc.
man (male) mar
egg (testicle) umu (mu-n, mu-r, etc.)

Selected works

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Trombetti, Alfredo. 1905. L'unità d'origine del linguaggio. Bologna: Luigi Beltrami.
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