Obituarium - Jan Braun (1926-2015)

The passing of a Tutor and Master touches his disciples, evoking thoughts on the fleeting of life as well as on their attitudes in science. What remains in us of the Master’s teachings? Are we true to what He taught us? Was it the right way? Did he persuade us to his views or have we rejected them as too difficult to accept? Jan Braun was occupied with many fields of linguistics, but he was more than just a linguist. His education started with Classical philology and archaeology, moving on to Oriental philology: from the study of classical Greek and Latin through the aucasian languages, to the cultures of the Ancient Near East, Hittite, Hurrian and Sumerian languages. This developed his exceptional skill in language analysis and gave him a broadened perspective on the study of languages within the scope of his interests.