‎CURTIUS, GEORGIUS.‎
‎Grundzüge der Griechischen Etymologie. 2 Theile. - [FUNDAMENTAL WORK ON THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE]‎

‎Leipzig, 1858-62. 8vo. Bound in one nice contemporary half calf with gilt spine. A bit of wear to capitals and hinges, and front hinge slightly cracked at bottom, otherwise fine. Minor occassional brownspotting. A small stamp to title-page. XIV, 371, (1) pp. + 1 folded plate" XVI, 398, (1 - errata) pp.‎

Reference : 44026

‎The scarce first edition of Curtius' magnum opus, a work of immense importance to the theory of the Greek language and one of the most important, influential, and useful works on the theory of language in general. ""Nach den Ansichten Aller, auch der Gegner, gehören diese ""Grundzüge"" zu den werthvollsten und nützlichsten Werken der Sprachwissenschaft überhaupt"" (Ernst Windisch in: Sebeok, Portraits of Linguists, I: p. 332).The work took Curtius about a decade to write, and the two volumes appeared with four years in between them. It is very rare to find any of the two volumes in the first edition, and both volumes in the first edition are almost never seen together. The work became immensely popular, and five editions appeared between this first and 1879. Georg Curtius (1820-1885) is one of the leading German classicists of all times. His writings were fundamental to the study of the Greek language and are among the most profound, influential and thorough ever written.Within the theory of language, one can hardly point to a work more generally influential than the present, which also excels in stringently and eloquently pointing out the connection between etymology and phonetics and proving that only through phonetics has etymology become a science. ‎