Joseph Loth

Who was Joseph Loth?

Joseph Loth was a French linguist and historian who specialised in the study of Celtic languages.

Loth was born in Guémené-sur-Scorff, Brittany. After his studies at Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, he became a teacher at Pontivy, then Quimper and Saumur until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. After the end of the conflict, he worked in various institutions in Paris. At this time he made the acquaintance of Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville, who encouraged him to study Celtic languages. In 1883 he was appointed to the Faculty of Arts at Rennes University, where he taught Celtic. That same year he founded the journal Annales de Bretagne, in which he published numerous studies and edited until 1910. He was appointed professor at the Collège de France in 1910 and was elected member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1919.

Loth published numerous articles in the Revue Celtique, re-edited Pierre de Chalons' Breton-French dictionary, and translated into French important Celtic literature including the Mabinogion. He was also an early supporter of the detailed study of variations in local dialects.