Alexander von Humboldt, Franz Bopp correspondence

Alexander von Humboldt's correspondence with Franz Bopp, the founder of Indo-Germanic studies and probably the most influential Sanskritist of his time, opens up a view of an area of interest of Humboldt's as a natural scientist that has hardly been explored to date. Inspired by the language studies of his brother Wilhelm, Alexander von Humboldt found in comparative linguistics a means of tracing the early period of human development. The scholar saw the migrations of peoples reflected in the different languages. For example, he used the comparison of the names of useful plants as evidence of cultural contacts between ancient peoples. On the one hand, the correspondence illustrates Humboldt's cultural-historical curiosity; on the other hand, it is a testament to the detailed erudition of Bopp the linguist. The findings of this scientific conversation found expression in Humbol.