born Sept. 14, 1791, Mainz, archbishopric of Mainz
died Oct. 23, 1867, Berlin, Prussia
German linguist.
He published the first lengthy comparative analysis of Indo-European languages , his voluminous Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Zend, Latin, Lithuanian, Old Slavic, Gothic, and German (183352). Though the relation of Sanskrit to European languages was known at the time, Bopp was a pioneer in isolating common elements in the verbal and nominal morphology of Sanskrit and other older Indo-European languages. Most of his career was spent at the University of Berlin.