Heimann Hariton Tiktin (August 9, 1850 – March 13, 1936), bornHeimann Tiktin, was aSilesian-bornRomanian linguist and academic, one of the founders of modernRomanian linguistics.
Born inBreslau (part ofPrussia at the time), into arabbinic family which took its name from theshtetl ofTyktin,[1][2] he was himself destined to a rabbinic vocation, and received a classical education.[3] At the age of 18, Tiktin moved toIaşi, where he married Amalia Mayerhoffer one year later, becoming a Romanian citizen in the early 1870s.[3]
After having taught himself Romanian,[2] Tiktin instructed courses inLatin,Ancient Greek and German in several of Iaşi's colleges (the Commercial School, the Alexandru cel Bun College, and theNational Lyceum). He took active part in the cultural and scientific life of the city, and attended meeting of the highly influentialJunimea circle.[2] He became a friend of the poetMihai Eminescu, who acquainted him with Romanianlexicography,grammar,folklore,literature andhistory. Tiktin's interest in Romanian language would develop into a major scientific preoccupation.[4] He was also a friend ofNicolae Iorga andGheorghe Kirileanu, being well acquainted withTitu Maiorescu,Grigore Tocilescu,Alexandru Philippide,A. C. Cuza,Ovid Densusianu,Alexandru Vlahuţă andBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu.
Tiktin received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Leipzig in 1884, with the thesisStudies on Romanian Philology. Beginning in 1889, he headed the linguistics section of the journalAlbina.
In 1900, he converted to Christianity, taking the Christian name ofHariton. In 1904, Tiktin was appointed as a lecturer at theHumboldt University of Berlin. Two years later he founded a seminary of Romanian Linguistics inside the university, one sponsored by the Romanian state; it was the first Romanian-language teaching unit outside Romania. He returned to Romania in the late 1910s, being elected honorary member of theRomanian Academy in 1919.
Tiktin rejoined his daughter in Berlin during the late 1920s. He died there, but was buried in Iaşi.
Formed at theNeogrammarian School inLeipzig, Tiktin was especially interested inphonetics andgrammar, which he analyzed from an historical perspective. Like his fellowJunimea members, he advocatedphonetic transcription in creating theRomanian alphabet.
A frequent contributor toJunimea'sConvorbiri Literare,[2] Tiktin also published numerous studies of linguistics in other prestigious Romanian and German journals, and completed aRomanian Grammar in 1883. He was co-founder ofSocietatea ştiinţifică şi literară (The Literary and Scientific Society) . In 1905 he published hisRumänisches Elementarbuch ("Elementary Romanian") inHeidelberg, as the first Romanian-language textbook for foreigners.[2] He also translated works by Eminescu andIon Creangă into German.
Tiktin's chief work is theRomanian-German Dictionary, still considered as the most authoritative work in the field.Iorgu Iordan regarded it as "the best dictionary among those ever to have been completed in our language", whileConstantin Rădulescu-Motru considered that "the Tiktin dictionary is and will still remain for a long time a fundamental work".Nicolae Iorga called the dictionary "a monument of labour and intelligence".[5]
His work is considered seminal in the fields of grammar and etymology —Eugenio Coşeriu regarded Tiktin as a precursor ofstructural syntax, andMarius Sala considers that Tiktin created a method in theetymological research.[6] Iorgu Iordan considers that his work, though not very sizeable, has a "definitive character, in the sense that following research did not challenge its essence".[5]
