Ferdinand de Saussure et la Genève de son temps: à l'occasion du centenaire de sa mort

The life and work of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) were marked by the 400-year-old attachment of his family to the Republic of Geneva. This article sketches the social and political history of Geneva over that period, culminating in the dramatic events that occurred weeks before Saussure's death. Along with an account of his life and career and a résumé of the principal ideas that would bring him posthumous fame, the article examines the turn of his linguistic research in the 1890s and early 1900s toward Geneva and its environs, and what it may have signified for him personally and professionally.