ABSTRACT
This chapter is designed to sketch the development of the methods of historical linguistics. Statements on the methods as currently applied may be consulted in special works like that of Hoenigswald (1960) or in the handbooks on historical linguistics. No satisfactory historical linguistic study was carried out before the beginning of the nineteenth century, and accordingly linguists had to develop appropriate methods for the new field. Like other new sciences, historical linguistics then looked to those that had developed useful methods. The greatest help came from comparative anatomy.
