14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the words you speak carry a family history you have never thought to trace?
In Lectures on the Science of Language, F. Max Müller asks readers to study speech as closely as rocks or plants. He traces relationships among the languages of India, Persia, Greece, Rome and northern Europe. Similar words are only a start: the real question is what evidence proves that languages share a common source.
Müller breaks words down to their roots, follows patterns of sound change and challenges popular accounts of how speech begins. He also argues that thought and language cannot be pulled apart, and uses old words to explain myth. Some claims no longer hold, but the lectures open a vivid window onto the Victorian debate over language and human nature.
What you’ll discover
- The family history of words Follow Müller as he looks beyond resemblance to evidence of shared linguistic ancestry.
- Roots beneath familiar speech See how stripping away endings and suffixes brings Müller to the building blocks of words.
- The puzzle of beginnings Meet the theories of language origins that Müller examines with wit and sharp questions.
- Where thought meets speech Consider his striking argument that reasoning depends on words, or signs that work like them.
- Old words behind myths Explore his theory that divine names begin as words for dawn, sky, sun and storm.
Who will love it
Readers who love words and where they come from, the story of Sanskrit, early ideas about the origin of speech, and the lively voice of a Victorian professor.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Small words hold a human past
- No speaker can command a language
- Everyday speech keeps language alive
- Sanskrit connects the collected evidence
- Grammar reveals a shared ancestry
- Endings were once meaningful words
- Language shape differs from language ancestry
- Speech depends on forming general ideas
- Listen for the history inside words
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Lectures on the Science of Language in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Lectures on the Science of Language
by F. Max Müller · 1861
Sanskrit, a French future tense and a Turkish verb show how words hold the hidden history of whole peoples.
Challenging5–10 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
“Language is our Rubicon, and no animal will dare cross it.”
In short
How can a handful of grammar endings and word roots tell you where whole peoples came from? In 1861 the Oxford scholar Max Müller stood before an audience at the Royal Institution in London and argued that they can.
Lectures on the Science of Language at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 30 min5 h 55 min fast, 8 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 106,700 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1861by F. Max Müller
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Language belongs among the natural sciences
Müller opens by asking what sort of knowledge the study of language can claim to be. Most people would file it with history, since people use language. He argues that it belongs with the physical sciences, because speech grows by laws that no one invents or controls.
Every science, he says, passes through three stages, which he names the empirical, the classificatory and the theoretical. A scholar of Greek treats a language as a key to literature. A student of the science of language treats language itself as the object, so the clicks of the Hottentots matter as much as the verse of Homer.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1861
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Müller, F. Max. Lectures on the Science of Language. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/lectures-on-the-science-of-language.
Müller, F. M. (2026). Lectures on the science of language. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lectures-on-the-science-of-language (Original work published 1861)
Müller, F. Max. Lectures on the Science of Language. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lectures-on-the-science-of-language.
@book{muller2026lectures,
author = {Müller, F. Max},
title = {Lectures on the Science of Language},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/lectures-on-the-science-of-language},
note = {First published 1861}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Lectures on the Science of Language
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Lectures on the Science of Language about?
It is a course of lectures given in 1861 that presents the study of language as a natural science. Müller covers its history, the families of languages, the roots of words, and theories of how speech began.
What does Müller mean by the Aryan family of languages?
He means the group that includes Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Slavonic and Teutonic languages, which share grammar and basic words. The name comes from a Sanskrit word linked to ploughing and to a national name.
What are the bow-wow and pooh-pooh theories?
They are Müller's nicknames for two explanations of how language began. The first says words imitate natural sounds, and the second says they grow from cries of feeling. He argues that neither accounts for real roots.
The author
F. Max Müller
1823–1900 · German-born British philologist
Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900) was a German-born philologist who lived and worked in Oxford, England. He studied Sanskrit and comparative religion. He published Lectures on the Science of Language in 1861 and 1864, and India: What Can It Teach Us? in 1883. He edited the Sacred Books of the East series.
“Language is our Rubicon, and no animal will dare cross it.”
More by F. Max Müller
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
