1 republic of uzbekistan ministry of higher and secondary specialised education

Filipp 
Fyodorovich 
Fortunatov
(Russian: Фили
́ пп Фёдорович Фортуна́тов; 14 
January [O.S. 2 January] 1848 – 3 October [O.S. 
20 September] 1914) was a Russian philologist, 
Indo-Europeanist and Slavist, best known for 
establishing the Fortunatov–de Saussure law. 
Fortunatov was born in Vologda in 1848. His 
father was the director of public schools in 
Olonets Governorate, and Fortunatov entered the 
Olonets provincial male gymnasium [ru] in 
Petrozavodsk, which was also overseen by his 
father. 
Following his father's retirement in 1863, the family moved to 
Moscow, where Fortunatov continued his studies at the 2nd Moscow 
Gymnasium [ru]. Fortunatov then entered the Faculty of History and 
Philology of Imperial Moscow University in 1864. During his time at 
the university, Fortunatov was influenced by Fyodor Buslaev and his 
works on comparative linguistics. He graduated in 1868. In 1871, 
Fortunatov and Vsevolod Miller travelled to Suwałki Governorate, 
where they studied Lithuanian fairy tales and songs. After this trip, 
Fortunatov was sent aboard to Germany, France and England, spending 
two years aboard in total between 1871 and 1873. During the trip, 
Fortunatov attended lectures and also studied the Vedas at the British 

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Museum.After his return to Moscow, Fortunatov completed his 
Master's degree in 1875.From 1876 onwards, Fortunatov began 
lecturing in the university.In 1884, Fortunatov was made a part-time 
professor in the faculty at the Department of Comparative Linguistics 
and Sanskrit Language, and was promoted to a full-time professor two 
years later. 
Fortunatov was the founder of the Moscow linguistic circle, and 
the foremost representative of the Neogrammarian school in Russia. His 
studies specialized in the phonetics of the Indo-European languages, 
emphasizing the importance of using a strict historical approach in 
studying phonetic changes. His works included studies on the Slavic 
languages, Sanskrit, Vedic Sanskrit, Greek, Armenian, Gothic and 
Lithuanian. Through the Moscow linguistic circle, Fortunatov had 
immense influence on the subsequent generation of Russian and foreign 
linguists, producing distinguished students like Aleksey Shakhmatov, 
Dmitry Ushakov, Nikolai Durnovo, Olaf Broch, Aleksandar Belić, 
Mikhail Pokrovsky, Johan August Lundell, Jiří Polívka and J. J. 
Mikkola.However, his international impact remained small due to his 
limited written works.