Eugene Prym

Eugen Prym (born December 15, 1843 in Düren , † May 6, 1913 in Bonn ) was a German orientalist and university professor for Arabic and Aramaic languages .

Live and act

The son of Düren cloth manufacturer Richard Prym (1814-1894) and Ernestine Schoeller, a niece of Leopold Schoeller , and brother of the mathematician Friedrich Prym , graduated from high school in Düren in 1862 . He then studied comparative linguistics and oriental languages at the universities in Berlin, Leipzig and Bonn. Prym completed his studies in 1868 with a dissertation " de enuntiationibus relativis semiticis " with Johann Gildemeister at the University of Bonn .

After a short study trip to Oxford , London and Paris , Prym went on an 18-month study trip to Egypt and Syria with the orientalist Albert Socin . The aim was linguistic research, especially in the field of modern dialects. On this trip they met a Jacobite Christian in Damascus , who gave them a large collection of folk literature, poems, stories and songs in the New Aramaic and Kurdish languages. This collection later became the basis for their jointly created multi-volume and prestigious publications, the first two volumes of which were published in Göttingen in 1881 and which were followed by two more volumes between 1887 and 1890 in St. Petersburg , each with the support of the relevant academies. The post-doctoral thesis Pryms wrote in Bonn in 1870 immediately after his study trip also referred to the contents of this extensive collection.

Eugen Prym stayed in Bonn for the rest of his working life, was appointed associate professor in 1875 and full professor in 1890. He turned down a temporary appointment at the University of Tübingen . In addition to teaching Semitic languages , Prym also gave lectures in Sanskrit and Persian . In addition, he was a member of a committee of several respected European orientalists under the direction of Michael Jan de Goeje who, between 1879 and 1901 in Leiden, created a new version of the complete work of the “ Annals of At-Tabarī ”. Prym was responsible for the last 1460 pages of the first series. Finally, in 1907, he arranged for the extensive library of his friend and Bonn colleague Theodor Aufrecht , which was initially intended for Prym after his death, to be donated to Bonn University.

Suddenly and unexpectedly Eugen Prym died on May 6, 1913, leaving behind his wife Anna, nee. Krabler (1842–1928) and six sons and two daughters.

Works (selection)

• Eugen Prym, Albert Socin: The new Aramaic dialect of the Tûr Ȧbdín ; 2 volumes, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1881.
• Eugen Prym, Albert Socin: Kurdish collections, stories and songs in the dialects of Tûr Ȧbdín and von Bohtan ; 2 volumes, St. Petersburg, 1887–1890.

literature

• Olga Sonntag : Villas on the banks of the Rhine in Bonn: 1819–1914 , Bouvier Verlag, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-416-02618-7 , Volume 3, Catalog (2), pp. 248–251. (also dissertation University of Bonn, 1994)
• Eugen Prym: Small messages and advertisements. In: Islam. 4, 1913, doi : 10.1515 / islm.1913.4.1.299 .