https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Nicholas_OstlerNicholas Ostler - Revision history2026-11-15T13:27:34ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicholas_Ostler&diff=477932&oldid=prevStevieBavin8727 at 10:37, 5 November 20252025-11-05T10:37:00Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|British scholar and author (born 1952)}}<br />
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'''Nicholas Ostler''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|oʊ|s|t|l|ər}}{{refn|group=nb|This is different from the pronunciation of the common noun ''ostler'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|s|l|ə}}.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200223150259/https://www.lexico.com/definition/ostler Ostler <nowiki>|</nowiki> Meaning of Ostler by Lexico]</ref>}}; born 20 May 1952, [[Royal Tunbridge Wells|Tunbridge Wells]]) is a British scholar, linguist, and author.<ref>"Ostler, Nicholas 1952–." ''Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series'', edited by Mary Ruby, vol. 321, Gale, 2017, pp. 316-319. Gale eBooks. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.</ref><br />
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== Biography and work ==<br />
Ostler studied at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he received degrees in [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Latin language|Latin]], philosophy, and economics. He later studied under [[Noam Chomsky]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he earned his PhD in [[linguistics]] and [[Sanskrit]].<ref>https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/author/nicholas-ostler/</ref><br />
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His 2005 book ''Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World'' documents the spread of [[language]] throughout recorded [[human history]]. The book documents and explains the spread of the various Semitic languages of Mesopotamia, including Akkadian and Aramaic, examines the resilience of Chinese through the centuries, and looks into the differential expansion of Latin in both halves of the Roman Empire, along with the many other expansions of the world's (historical) languages.<br />
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His 2007 book ''Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin'' looks specifically at the language of the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], both before and after the existence of their [[Empire]]. The story focuses on the rise, spread, and dominance of [[Latin]], both among other languages of the Italian peninsula in the early part of the 1st millennium BC and among the languages of Western Europe in the [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]] and beyond, presenting the life of Latin as any biographer would present the life of his subject. With this book, Ostler provides a strong argument against the label 'dead language' so often assigned to Latin. However, the title, 'Ad Infinitum,' refers not to this, but to his thesis that the Latin-speaking world was unconscious of its own limits, looking always back to its centre, rather than outwards.<br />
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He is currently the chairman of the [[Foundation for Endangered Languages]], and lives in [[Hungerford, Berkshire|Hungerford]], [[England]].<br />
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In 2013, he wrote the foreword for Navlipi, the publication of a universal script that deals with phonemic idiosyncrasies inherent in all the world's languages.<br />
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==Works==<br />
*''[[Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World]]''. HarperCollins: London and New York, 2005. {{ISBN|0066210860}}<br />
*''Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin''. HarperCollins in the UK, and Walker & Co. in the USA: London and New York, 2007. {{ISBN|9780802715159}}<br />
*''The Last Lingua Franca: English until the Return to Babel''. Penguin in the UK, and Bloomsbury/Walker Books in the USA. London and New York, 2010. {{ISBN|0802717713}}<br />
*''Passwords to Paradise: How Languages Have Re-invented World Religions.'' Bloomsbury. London and New York, 2016. {{ISBN|978-1-62040-515-4}}<br />
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==Notes==<br />
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==References==<br />
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== Sources ==<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130522210327/http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/20847/Nicholas_Ostler/index.aspx Author: Nicholas Ostler], HarperCollins. Retrieved 21 January 2007.<br />
*Ostler, Nicholas. ''Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World.'' New York: Harper Perennial, 2005. {{ISBN|0-06-093572-3}}<br />
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120309212500/http://www.apwatt.co.uk/frame.asp?left=titles_left.asp%3Ftitle_id%3D1880&right=title_full.asp%3Ftitle_id%3D1880 Author: Nicholas Ostler], AP Watt (literary agent). Retrieved 26 July 2010.<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{Official|http://www.nicholasostler.com/}}<br />
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[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:1952 births]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century British linguists]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century British linguists]]</div>StevieBavin8727