The Linguist’s Calendar: July 2

Ferdinand de Saussure

July 2
 
1907: Ferdinand de Saussure becomes professor of linguistics at the Université de Genève.
 
1949: Spanish Vasconist Koldo (Luís) Mitxelena marries Matilde de Ilarduya.

EXTRA for today, from Mikael Parkvall's Limits of Language:

Amazingly, when the Swiss hear the name de Saussure, it is not primarily Ferdinand that springs to their minds, but rather his great-grandfather, the geologist Horace-Bénédict, who in 1787 became the third person to climb the highest of the Alps, the Mont-Blanc.

Several other members of the family have also made a name for themselves in various disciplines, including Ferdinand’s own son who introduced psychoanalysis in Switzerland.
 

Other members of the clan became renowned agronomists, entomologists, chemists and botanists.