Gustav Weil

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Gustav Weil

Gustav Weil (born April 25, 1808 in Sulzburg , † August 29, 1889 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German orientalist .

Life

Gustav Weil was supposed to be a rabbi , but couldn't get anything out of it. From 1828 to 1830 he studied history and philology at the University of Heidelberg and briefly in 1830 with Silvestre de Sacy in Paris. From there he went to Algiers as a correspondent for the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung and then traveled to Cairo in 1831 , where he stayed until 1835. Here and in Constantinople he deepened his knowledge of Arabic and other oriental languages. In 1836 he received his doctorate in Tübingen , and in the same year he completed his habilitation in Heidelberg. From 1836 to 1845 he had lectureships at Heidelberg University and was a librarian in the Heidelberg University Library . In 1845 he became the first Jew in Germany and, against the resistance of the university, to become an associate professor for oriental languages, and in 1861 finally a full professor in Heidelberg.

plant

Gustav Weil knew how to use manuscripts and printed books to compose widespread historical and literary-historical accounts. He is particularly well-known through the first edition of Thousand and One Nights, which was translated completely from the original text, true to the work .

A second major piece of work that Weil preoccupied was a life story of Muhammad . The American writer Washington Irving used it many times as a source. In addition, Weil published the “Historical-Critical Introduction to the Koran” (Bielefeld and Leipzig 1844 and 1878) as an addition to Ullmann's Koran translation , as well as the translation of the basic source for the biography of Muhammad: “The life of Mohammed after Muhammad Ibn Ishâk edited by Abd el- Malik Ibn Hischâm , translated by Dr. G. Weil “(Stuttgart 1864). In addition, there is “The Biblical Legends of the Muslim Men” (Frankfurt 1845), in which he proves the influence of the rabbinical legend on Islam.

In his most extensive work, the history of the Khalifa in three volumes (1846-1851) and its sequel History of the Abbasid Chaliphate in Egypt (1860-1862), Weil was the first to attempt to trace Islamic history from 632 , the year of Muhammad's death, to To depict the fall of the Mamluk Empire in 1517 due to the independent processing of Arabic historical sources, whereby he also takes particular account of the history of literature .

Publications

  • Poetic literature of the Arabs. Stuttgart: Cotta, 1837 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • Mohammed the Prophet, his life and his teaching: drawn from handwritten sources and the Koran. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1843 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • Historical-critical introduction to the Koran . Bielefeld: Velhagen & Klasing, 1844 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • The Biblical Legends of the Muslim Men. Frankfurt: Literarisches Anstalt, 1845 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • History of the Chalifes. 1846-1862.
    • I. From the death of Muhammad to the fall of the Omeijads, including the history of Spain, from the invasion of the Arabs to the separation from the eastern Chaliphate. Mannheim: Bassermann, 1846 ( digitized in the Google book search).
    • II. The Abbasids up to the capture of Baghdad by the Bujids: 132–334 d. H. Mannheim: Bassermann, 1848 (The appendix contains: “The progress of Arabic literature from the middle of the third to the middle of the fourth century of the Hidjrah.”) ( Digitized in the Google book search).
    • III. From the capture of Baghdad by the Bujids to the fall of the Chaliphate of Baghdad: 334–656 d. H. Mannheim: Bassermann, 1851 ( digitized in the Google book search).
    • IV. The Chaliphate under the Bahritan Mamluk Sultans of Egypt: 656–792 d. H. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1860 ( digitized in the Google book search).
    • V. The Chaliphate among the Circassian Mamluk Sultans of Egypt: 792–923 d. H. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1862 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • History of the Abbasid Chaliphate in Egypt (sic!), Stuttgart: JB Metzler, 1860–1862.
  • The life of Muhammad according to Muhammad Ibn Ishâk. Edited by Abd el-Malik Ibn Hischâm, translated by Dr. G. Because. 2 volumes. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1864 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  • History of the Islamic peoples from Mohammed to the time of Sultan Selim clearly presented. Stuttgart: Rieger, 1866 ( digitized in the Google book search).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adalbert Merx:  Weil, Gustav . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 486-488.

Web links

Wikisource: Gustav Weil  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Gustav Weil  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Because, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Sulzburg
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1889
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau