Henry R. Kahane was born on November 2, 1902, in Berlin, Germany, ‘an Austrian in the German world’ (Kahane 1992b:40). He was raised in the intellectually stimulating world of theatre and literature and it was there that he began his formal academic life with Literaturwissenschaft, gradually moving into Romance linguistics. Henry was drawn to linguistics, ‘attracted by the magnetic personality of Ernst Gamillscheg, a trail-blazing genius, who, up to his death in 1971, was inexhaustible in linguistic themes and explanations and, despite political flings, of an incorruptible professional objectivity’ (ibid.). Gamillscheg was to have a multifold impact on Henry’s life. It was in this professor’s seminar, in 1927, that Henry met Renée, née Toole, of Irish ancestry born in Cephalonia, Ionian Island. It was through Renée’s influence that Henry developed his interest in Mediterranean studies. Two other European scholars who also left an indelible impact on Henry in relating language and history were Max Leopold Wagner (1880-1962) and Gerhard Rohlfs (1892-1986).