Stefan Höfler

My first monograph, Das tocharische Nomen. Ein indogermanistisches Arbeitsbuch, has just been published with Universitätsverlag Winter (here). The book offers a comprehensive introduction to the Tocharian nominal system, covering phonological developments, case and gender, and noun and adjective classes, and includes exercises for both teaching and independent study. I am very happy – and proud – to see this project completed and in print.

My paper “Smells like Metonymy: Homeric κνίση ‘steam, savor (of a burnt sacrifice)’ and ‘caul fat’, with an excursus on κνισός” has been published in the edited volume Advances in Ancient Greek Linguistics (eds. Jesús de la Villa, Araceli Striano & Rodrigo Verano). The article discusses the etymology and derivational prehistory of κνίση, arguing that its two seemingly disparate meanings reflect different readings of an underlying possessive adjective, and includes a philological excursus on κνισός and κνισόομαι. You can download it here.

I’m very happy to share that my first co-edited book, Power, Gender, and Mobility. Aspects of Indo-European Society (edited together with Birgit Olsen and Riccardo Ginevra), is now available open access! You can find the volume here. 

It’s wonderful to see this project – bringing together perspectives from linguistics, archaeology, anthropology, and the history of religion – now freely accessible to all.

I just gave an invited talk at Comenius University Bratislava, hosted by the Slovak Union of Classical Philologists at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The talk, "From Bratislava to Ancient Greece: What Slovak can tell us about the prehistory of Greek feminine adjectives in -ος", was a great opportunity to share some unexpected cross-linguistic connections. Many thanks to Barbora Machajdíková and the Union for the kind invitation and warm welcome!

My article, "Rix’s Law in Latin and the Etymology of īnfula ‘band, bandage’," has just been published in Exploring Latin: Structures, Functions, Meaning. My chapter is the first in the volume, which I’m especially pleased about—it’s great to see this work open the collection. You can find the book here: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111332956/html#contents 

My article, “A Night Reconnaissance: On Νύξ and Her Aeolic (?) Epithets in Homer”, has just been published in Language Change in Epic Greek and Other Poetic Traditions (Leiden: Brill). It explores the epithets of Nyx (‘Night’) in early Greek epic, some of which may preserve Aeolic features within an otherwise Ionic poetic tradition. You can read the article here and find an accessible summary here.

I just wrapped up teaching a week-long block seminar on Tocharian Nominal Morphology at the University of Marburg. It was great to dive into the complexities of this language with engaged students, covering everything from declensions to compounds. The week flew by, and it was really rewarding to see everyone’s interest in this fascinating branch of Indo-European!