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Emil Forrer

1894 – 1986

Swiss linguist

Linguist AssyriologistHittitologist
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About Emil Forrer

Lived 1894 – 1986 (aged 91). Emil Forrer was a Swiss linguist, assyriologist, hittitologist, classical scholar, philologist and orientalist.

Emil Orgetorix Gustav Forrer (also Emilio O. Forrer; ; 19 February 1894 – 10 January 1986) was a Swiss Assyriologist and pioneering Hittitologist. He was the first to point out the relevance of references to Wilusa in Hittite inscriptions to the accounts of the Trojan War in the epics of Homer.

Forrer was born in Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine. Emil Forrer developed a deviant interdisciplinary field of research (Meropisforschung), based on textual fragments of the Greek historian Theopompus of Chios, and dealing with assumed pre- or protohistoric contacts between the Old- and the New World. Antithetic to the prevailing academic school of thought, Forrer advocated the idea that Theopompos of Chios’s "Meropis" was not a fictional parody of Atlantis but an actual geographic entity. Forrer died in San Salvador.

Works Forrer, E. Neue Probleme zum Ursprung der indogermanichen Sprachen. "Mannus", B. 26, 1934 Forrer, E. Homerisch und silenisch Amerika, San Salvador (author's edition) 1975

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Important facts

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Emil Forrer's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Emil Forrer?

Swiss linguist (1894-1986)

When was Emil Forrer born?

Emil Forrer was born on 19 February 1894 in Strasbourg.

When did Emil Forrer die?

Emil Forrer died on 10 January 1986 in San Salvador.

What was Emil Forrer's occupation?

Emil Forrer was a linguist, assyriologist, hittitologist, classical scholar, philologist and orientalist.

What nationality was Emil Forrer?

Emil Forrer was Swiss.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Emil Forrer

· Wikidata: Q125010

· DBpedia: Emil Forrer

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Emil Forrer. https://biography.guide/emil-forrer/

MLA: "Emil Forrer." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/emil-forrer/.

Chicago: "Emil Forrer." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/emil-forrer/.

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