Mayrhofer was born in Linz and studied Indo-European and Semitic linguistics and philosophy at the University of Graz, where he received his Ph.D. in 1949. From 1953 to 1963 he taught at the University of Würzburg, and from 1963 to 1966 he was a professor at Saarland University. In 1966 he returned to Austria, serving as professor at the University of Vienna until his retirement in 1990. He died in Vienna at the age of 85.
Works
1953 – Sanskrit-Grammatik, English A Sanskrit Grammar (2003), ISBN 0-8173-1285-4.
1966 – Die Indo-Arier im alten Vorderasien (Wiesbaden)
1976 – Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen, 4 vols., ISBN 0-8288-5722-9.
1977 – Die avestischen Namen, IPNB I/1 (Vienna).
1978 – Sanskrit-Grammatik mit sprachvergleichenden Erläuterungen (1978), ISBN 3-11-007177-0.
1979 – Die altiranischen Namen (Vienna), ISBN 3-7001-0300-X.
