Alfred Felix Landon Beeston

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Alfred Felix Landon Beeston (born February 23, 1911 in Barnes , † September 29, 1995 in Oxford ) was a British orientalist . He was mainly known for his research on Arabic language and literature as well as on ancient South Arabic philology.

Life

Beeston was born in Barnes, South West London , and attended Westminster School . Already at the age of 14 he was fascinated by the old South Arabic inscriptions exhibited in the British Museum and therefore studied Arabic as a schoolboy. From 1929 he attended the Oxford Christ Church ; In 1933 he received a first prize in Arabic and Persian. In 1935 he accepted a position in the Bodleian Library while doing his doctorate on several Sabaean inscriptions and completed his dissertation in 1937.

From November 1940 to April 1946 he served in the Intelligence Corps in Palestine. In 1957 he became a professor of Arabic at Oxford until he retired in 1979.

Beeston became known as a Semitic philologist primarily for his research and works on Old South Arabic, on which he published two grammars and numerous essays and other volumes. He also published several important books on Arabic. He also worked on a catalog of oriental manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. In addition to ancient and modern oriental languages, Beeston also spoke numerous other languages, from European languages ​​such as Welsh and Hungarian to exotic idioms such as Chinese .

In 1965 the British Academy elected him its member.

Important works

  • Sabaean Inscriptions , Oxford 1937
  • Catalog of the Persian, Turkish, Hindustani and Pushtu Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Part III. Additional Persian Manuscripts , Oxford University Press, 1955.
  • A Descriptive Grammar of Epigraphic South Arabian , Luzac, London 1962.
  • Written Arabic, an Approach to the Basic Structures , Cambridge University Press, 1968.
  • The Arabic Language Today , Coll. Modern Languages, Hutchinson, London 1970.
  • The Epistle on Singing-Girls of Jahiú , Aris and Phillips, Warminster 1980.
  • Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic) / Dictionnaire sabéen (anglais-français-arabe) / al-Mu'gam as-saba'i (bi-l-ingliziyya wa-l-firansiyya wa l-ʿarabiyya) , Publication of the University of Sanaa, YAR, Louvain-la-Neuve (Editions Peeters) et Beyrouth (Librairie du Liban), together with Mahmud al-Ghul , Walter W. Müller and Jacques Ryckmans , 1982.
  • Muchtarat min an-nuq ‚• al-yamaniyya al-qadima, T‚nis (al-Munaúúama al-'arabiyya li-t-Tarbiya wa-aû-ùaqafa wa-al-'Ul‚m) , together with Muhammad Bafaqih, Christian Robin et Mahm'd al- • 'l. 1985.

literature

  • AK Irvine: Obituary: Professor Alfred Felix Landon Beeston 1911-1995 . In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , Vol. 60, No. 1 (1997), pp. 117-123.
  • Edward Ullendorff: Alfred Felix Landon Beeston, 1911–1995 . In: British Academy (Ed.): Proceedings of the British Academy . tape 94 , 1997, pp. 295-316 ( thebritishacademy.ac.uk [PDF]).

Web links

See also

personal data
SURNAME Beeston, Alfred Felix Landon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Barnes (London)
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1995
Place of death Oxford