George Abraham Grierson

Sir George Abraham Grierson, 1920

Sir George Abraham Grierson (born January 7, 1851 , Glenageary , Ireland ; † March 9, 1941 , Camberley , United Kingdom ) was a British orientalist and linguist .

biography

Grierson was born into an established family of printers in Dublin. He attended St. Bees School in Cumberland and Trinity College in Dublin. Grierson studied philosophy, law, and literature, and received a PhD in each of the fields.

In 1871 he joined the Indian Civil Service . In 1873 he took over political tasks in Bengal and later became magistrate in Patna , later also an opium agent for Bihar . In 1898 he was appointed superintendent of the newly established Linguistic Survey of India and moved to England in 1900 to consult European scholars and libraries there.

Grierson became well known for his linguistic research and publication on the languages of South Asia.

In 1905 Grierson sat at a meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society with success for the establishment of a faculty for Oriental languages, history and archeology at the University of London , after a previous attempt in 1898 by the Society had failed. On November 13, 1905, a resolution was passed by the university recommending the establishment of the School of Oriental Studies . Grierson was governor of the school from 1917 to 1925. In 1906 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1917 he became a member ( fellow ) of the British Academy .

Grierson published the last time in 1933. His wife survived him for almost two years after 61 years together (since 1880). She died on February 19, 1943.

Awards

Grierson was appointed to the British Order of Merit in 1928. Furthermore, Grierson was accepted as a Companion in the Order of the Indian Empire in 1894 and knighted by knight commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1912 .

Publications

George Abraham Grierson: Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Subdialects of the Bihari Language. 3 volumes. 1883-87, Kalpaz Publications, Delhi 2005 (reprint). ISBN 81-7835-451-9
George Abraham Grierson: Bihar Peasant Life. Being a Discursive Catalog of the Surroundings of the People of That Province, With Many Illustrations From Photographs Taken By the Author. Prepared Under Orders of the Government of Bengal. Trübner & Co., London 1885, Cosmo, New Delhi 1998 (reprint). ISBN 81-7020-185-3
George Abraham Grierson: Linguistic Survey of India. 11 volumes. Superintendent of Government Print, Calcutta 1908–1928, Delhi, Low Price Publ. 2005 (reprint). ISBN 81-7536-361-4
George Abraham Grierson, Mukundarama Shastri: A Dictionary of the Kashmiri Language. Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta 1918.
George Abraham Grierson, Lionel D. Barnett: Lalla-Vakyani or the Wise Sayings of Lal Ded. Royal Asiatic Society, London 1920.

Individual evidence

^ "For the convenience of consulting European libraries and scholars" . In: Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 28. G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press 1942.
^ The Calendar of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) for the Twenty-Second Session 1937-38. The School of Oriental Studies (Ed.). Oxford University Press, London 1937, pp. 33-34.
^ The Calendar of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) for the Twenty-Second Session 1937-38. The School of Oriental Studies (Ed.). Oxford University Press, London 1937, p. 240.
↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 96.
^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 4, 2020 .
^ The Lost Scholars of Kashmir

literature

FW Thomas, RL Turner: George Abraham Grierson 1851-1941 . Humphrey Milford Amen House, London 1941.
Proceedings of the British Academy. 28, Oxford University Press, 1942, pp. 283-306.

Web links

Photos of Sir George Grierson

personal data
SURNAME	Grierson, George Abraham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British orientalist and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 7, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH	Glenageary , County Dublin , Ireland
DATE OF DEATH	March 9, 1941
Place of death	Camberley , UK

[1] "For the convenience of consulting European libraries and scholars" . In: Proceedings of the British Academy. Vol. 28. G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press 1942.

[2] The Calendar of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) for the Twenty-Second Session 1937-38. The School of Oriental Studies (Ed.). Oxford University Press, London 1937, pp. 33-34.

[3] The Calendar of the School of Oriental Studies (University of London) for the Twenty-Second Session 1937-38. The School of Oriental Studies (Ed.). Oxford University Press, London 1937, p. 240.

[4] Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 96.

[5] Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 4, 2020 .

[6] The Lost Scholars of Kashmir