The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
rHE MAN or FIFTY-rw0 LAM
GUAGEs.
Note on tho Recent Death 0f Dr. Carl
Abel. the Ph~iIolOgist.

Note on tho Recent Death 0f Dr. Carl
Abel. the Philelowist.
To THE EDITOR OF The SuN-SiY: The
FrdnkfSrtsr Zstuns OF November 90 last
contains a fsuilleton entitled New ETY.
mology' from the pen of Professor DR.. Carl
Abel, accompanied by the following note:
We publish to-day the last work OF our distin-
gulshed collaborstor. who died day before yes
terday at wieshaden In the seventy eighth year
OF bis age.
The article deals with the subject of COM
parative p~hilology, to the study Of which
Professor Abel had devoted pretty exolu-
sively the last forty years OF his life. and to
which work he brought q lingual equipment
exceeded in affiuenoe by few II by any one
except M~agliabeoohi. For nearly a quar-
ter OF a century he was the Berlin corre-
spondent Of the London TiSaes. a relation
which only terminated In consequence Of
bis correspondence having made him a
persona o grata to Bismarck. He made
himself especially valuable to the Times
through his familiarity with the Russian
and other Oriental languages and with
their Journalism, which enabled him to
give the public sentiment Of their various
~nationalities with a fulness and accuracy
which defed competition. He was the
Times correspondent from Berlin through
the Crimean var and also through the
Franco-German war, when his accomplish
ments gave him a more familiar ~soquaint-
ance with the Oriental politics Of England
and Russia than any other person Of his
time. inside or outside Of the diplomatic
service. possessed.
In the course Of Q visit which hs made
a. wnA AAA ~ 49,
n~eighbors in Berlin--I was inspired with
curiosity enough to ask him how many
languages he knsw. He replied very
modestly, 'Oh, several" Yes I said,
Il know, but how many?' "Oh,' said he,
Il don't know how many; a good many
Finding it impossible to get from him q
categorical answer to my question, I then
drew a sheet OF paper toward me, took my
pen and said: well. now, just let me see.
or course you know German. French.
English. Italian, Russian which I sever
ally wrote down; then I asked, .Swed-
ishi' "Yes." -Finnish1' Yes" -Turkish7'
Yes What other shall I add7' He
then very deliberately enumerated Oriental
languages Of all denominations, I writing
them down after him. When he stopped
l proceeded to add them up, and they
amounted in all to fifty-two. He observed:
These are languages, and not dialects Of
languages. lido not speak quite all ofthem,
for l nave never had occasion to learn to
speak them all; but l read them ALL" He
said that his familiarity with the root Ian
guages, Coptic, Sanscrit, Hebrew, Greek
and Latin, made IL a very easy task for him
to master a new tongue, because in these
languages he found the roots Of pretty
nearly all languages, and all he had to do
was to take note OF the examinations OF new
ones. He also told me that he learned the
larger number Of his languages by reading
their version Of the Bible.
When he retired from the Times he
devoted himself pretty exclusively to his
f~avorite study Of comparative philology,
the results Of which are preserved in nu-
merous monograph ineligible forthe most
part unfortunately only to linguists almost
as accomplished as himself. He was not
infrequently called upon by the now more
than ever famous Chancellor Hohenlohe
to investigate and report for the Govern
ment upon questions on which his familiar
ity with Oriental languages and politics
made him IN authority. He was also an
occasional contributor to the columns OF
the Deutschs Revue and Of other magazines
OF Europe.
He Is survived by a married daughter,
who settled many ear ago on the Pacific
coast Of the United States, where I think
she still resides. JOHN BIoBLow.
NEW YORK, December Is.