Nicholas Poppe

Nicholas Poppe
Born
Николай Николаевич Поппе (Nikolai Nikolayevitch Poppe)

(1897-07-27)27 July 1897
Died8 August 1991(1991-08-08) (aged 94)
Seattle, USA
NationalityBaltic German
CitizenshipSoviet (renounced 1943); United States
AwardsHonorary doctorate from University of Bonn
Academic background
Alma materPetrograd University
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
Sub-disciplineAltaic languages, languages of Central and East Asia
InstitutionsUniversity of Washington; Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences
Main interestsMongolic languages

Nicholas N. Poppe (Russian: Никола́й/Ни́колас Никола́евич Поппе, Nikoláj/Níkolas Nikolájevič Poppe; 27 July 1897 – 8 August 1991) was an important Russian linguist. He is also known as Nikolaus Poppe, with his first name in its German form. He is often cited as N.N. Poppe in academic publications.

Poppe was a leading specialist in the Mongolic languages and the hypothetical (and controversial) Altaic language family to which the Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic languages are supposed to belong. Poppe was open-minded toward the inclusion of Korean in Altaic, but regarded the evidence for the inclusion of Korean as weaker than that for the inclusion of Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic.