Samuel Lee (Orientalist)

Samuel Lee

Samuel Lee (born May 14, 1783 in Longnor , Shropshire , † December 16, 1852 in Barlay , Hertfordshire ) was a British Orientalist and Anglican clergyman.

Life

Lee grew up in poverty in Longnor, twelve kilometers from Shrewsbury . He was the youngest of eleven children. Four of his brothers and four sisters were from his father's first marriage, one brother and one sister were, like him, significantly younger because they were from his father's second marriage.

His father died when he was twelve years old. He had to leave school and start an apprenticeship as a carpenter, as his mother also had to rely on this small income. Through his work as a craftsman and caretaker for the Roman Catholic Chapel of Sir Edward Smith, he came into contact with Latin texts, which he began to study.

After years of working as a carpenter, now married, he continued his self-study under the most adverse circumstances. Ultimately, he found the support of Archdeacon Corbett. He recognized the extraordinary talent, promoted his education and became his patron .

In October 1817 he received a BA from Cambridge University , was ordained a priest and curate in Chesterton near Cambridge.

In 1819 he became professor of the Arabic language at Cambridge. As a result he became canon in Bristol and in 1833 was appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University. He died in Barlay, Hertfordshire, in 1852.

It is important because of the large number of its translations (including one of the Book of Job from Hebrew) and translations, as well as its grammars, which are still valued today .

Fonts

• A lexicon Hebrew, Chaldee and English: compiled from the most approved sources, oriental and european, jewish and christian. Duncan & Malcolm, London 1820.
• A grammar of the Hebrew language: compromised in a series of lectures etc. 2nd edition. London 1831.
• Journal of a three years' residence in Abyssinia, in furtherance of the objects of the Church Missionary Society. London 1834.

Translations

• The Travels of Ibn Batta :… with notes, illustrative of the history, geography, botany, antiquities, & c., Ocurring throughout the work Ibn-Baa, Muammad Ibn-Abdallh. Copy printed for the count de Mandelsloh, a foreign member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. London, 1829.
• The book of the Patriarch Job . London 1837.
• On the Theophania or divine manifestantion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A Syriac version / Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea. Ed. Samuel Lee. Society for the Publication of Oriental Texts, London 1842.

literature

• Br. Dale A. Johnson: Samuel Lee (1783-1853). Father of Syriac Studies in Britain. ( online , english)
• Anna Mary Lee: A Scholar of a Past Generation. Seely and Co., London 1896. ( online , with bibliography, English)