saussure

noun

1. Fer·di·nand de [French fer-dee-nahn duh] /French fɛr diˈnɑ̃ də/, 1857–1913, Swiss linguist.

noun

1. Ferdinand de (fɛrdinɑ̃ də). 1857–1913, Swiss linguist. He pioneered structuralism in linguistics and the separation of scientific language description from historical philological studies