Gerhard Doerfer

Gerhard Doerfer (born March 8, 1920 in Königsberg ; † December 27, 2003 in Göttingen ) was a German Turkologist and Altaist .

Life

Gerhard Doerfer spent the first years of his life in Königsberg and, after the family moved, in 1928 in Berlin . After Reich labor service in 1938, military service and a prisoner of war, he began studying Turkish and Altaic studies with Karl Heinrich Menges , Islamic studies with Richard Hartmann and Walther Braune and Iranian studies with Olaf Hansen in 1949 . In 1954 he received his doctorate with the dissertation " On the Syntax of the Secret History of the Mongols ". From 1955 to 1957 he was an assistant at the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz . In 1960 he completed his habilitation at the University of Göttingen , where he also worked as an adjunct professor from 1966. From 1966 to 1968 he held lectures as a visiting professor at Indiana University in Bloomington . In 1968, 1969 and 1973 he led expeditions to Persia to study the Turkic languages ​​of Chalaj and Oghuz . In 1970 he became full professor of the newly established chair for Turkic and Altaic Studies at the University of Göttingen. In the winter semester 1975/76 he taught as a visiting professor at the University of Istanbul . After his retirement in 1988, he continued his teaching and research work until the end of his life.

One of his most important writings is the four-volume work “ Turkish and Mongolian Elements in New Persian. With special consideration of older neo-Persian historical sources, especially the Mongol and Timurid times ”, which was created between 1963 and 1975.

Publications (selection)

• The Numerus in Manschu (= treatises of the humanities and social sciences class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born in 1962, No. 4).
• Turkish and Mongolian elements in New Persian. With special consideration of older neo-Persian historical sources, especially the Mongol and Timurid times (= Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz. Publications of the Oriental Commission. Vol. 16, 19-21, ISSN  0568-4447 ). 4 volumes. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1963–1975.
• Grammar of the Chalaj (= Turcologica. Vol. 4). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-447-02865-3 .
• with Wolfram Hesche: Chorasan Turkish . Word lists, short grammars , indices (= Turcologica. Vol. 16). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 3-447-03320-7 .
• Forms of the older Turkish poetry (= Studia uralo-altaica. No. 37). Universitas Szegediensis de Attila József Nominata, Szeged 1996, ISBN 963-481-881-1 .
• Etymological-ethnological dictionary of Tungus dialects. (Mainly Manchuria). Olms, Hildesheim et al. 2004, ISBN 3-487-12759-8 .

literature

• Marcel Erdal, Semih Tezcan (Ed.): Beläk Bitig. Language studies for Gerhard Doerfer on his 75th birthday (= Turcologica. Vol. 23). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1995, ISBN 3-447-03654-0 .
• List of publications by Gerhard Doerfer (= Materialia Turcica. Supplement 13). Compiled by Michael Knüppel. Pontus-Verlag, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-9805178-9-6 .
• Gerhard Doerfer: An autobiographical sketch. In: Göttingen Contributions to Asian Studies. Issue 1, 2001, ISSN  1618-310X , pp. 227-230, abstract .
• Altaic reminiscences. Correspondence between Karl Heinrich Menges and Gerhard Doerfer from 1955–1985. Edited and commented by Michael Knüppel. Bautz, Nordhausen 2010, ISBN 978-3-88309-595-0 .