Max Leopold Wagner (17 September 1880 – 9 July 1962) was a German philologist and ethnologist, particularly known for his studies on the Sardinian language.
In a posthumous review of his three-volume Dizionario etimologico sardo, Ernst Pulgram wrote: It can only be hoped that ... there will arise ... men like Wagner: original thinkers, deep specialists, and great synthesizers of knowledge all at the same time.
Wagner gained his doctorate from the University of Würzburg, Germany; his thesis was entitled Lautlehre der südsardischen Mundarten (published in 1907).
[1] Wagner did research in the context of the Sardinian language, also studying the jargons and dialects of Sicily, Judaeo-Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and American Spanish.
He had a particular interest in argot, cant, and the idioms of those living on the margins of society,[1] as evidenced in his essay Comments on the bogotanian caló, a text about the manners of speech of impoverished children in Bogotá.