This wide-ranging comparative analysis of languages was one of the earliest products of the nineteenth century's burgeoning interest in philology. Its author was the French diplomat Baron de Merian, a contemporary of Wihelm von Humboldt and precursor of Franz Bopp and August Schleicher (also published in this series). Published shortly after Merian's death in 1828, this meticulous study is the result of twelve years of painstaking work. Merian concisely maps out the languages of the world, and attempts to trace all major dialects back to a common root. He ably demonstrates his competence as a philologist, illustrating his argument through extensive charts and tables, and does not shy away from topics such as Basque and Native American vocabulary which still pose problems for linguists today. Though many of Merian's theories have since been disproved, his pioneering work deserves its place in the history of linguistics.

Table of Contents

Part I: 1. De l'unite et de la pluralite; 2. Du langage; 3. Science du langage; 4. De l'analogie des langues; 5. De l'unite des langues; 6. Notions preliminaires et exemples; 7. Apercu general; 8. Racines; 9. Parties du discours; 10. De la filiation des langues; 11. De la comparaison; 12. Du changement des sons des lettres; 13. De la parente generale des idiomes du globe; 14. Des formes radicales et grammaticales; 15. De l'unite et de l'etude comparative des langues; 16. De quelques-uns de ceux qui se sont occupes de l'etude des langues; Part II: 17.-18. Remarque sur le parente generale des langues; 19.-26. Sur le changement des lettres; Part III. Vocabulaires: 27. Comparaison des mots basques avec les mots des autres langues de notre hemisphere; 28. Mots copts compares avec d'autres langues; 29. Comparaison des langues americaines avec les idiomes de l'ancien continent; Observations sur les racines des langues semitiques, par M. Klaproth.