His interest was centered upon Prakrit grammar and vocabulary, and his articles formed valuable contributions to the investigation of middle Indo-Aryan languages.

Goldschmidt was educated at the gymnasium in Cassel, before studying philosophy and (mostly Sanskrit) philology the Universities of Leipzig, Berlin, and Tübingen, graduating with a Ph.D. on 20 August 1867.

At the close of the war Goldschmidt was appointed assistant professor in the newly Germanified University of Strasburg, with which he was connected during the remainder of his short life.

He became professor on 12 September 1881, but soon had to discontinue his teaching activities as a result of spinal tuberculosis, which he contracted the previous summer.

[4] This is in two volumes, the first of which comprises the text and an index of the Prakrit words, in preparing which Siegfried was assisted by his brother Paul, while the second part contains the German translation.