Wilhelm Geiger

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Wilhelm Ludwig Geiger (born July 21, 1856 in Nuremberg , † September 2, 1943 in Neubiberg ) was a German Indologist and Iranist . He worked as a university lecturer in Erlangen and Munich .

life and work

Wilhelm Geiger was born in Nuremberg in 1856 as the son of a pastor. He studied classical and oriental philology in Erlangen with Friedrich Spiegel and joined the student union Uttenruthia Erlangen in the winter semester 1873/74 . In 1876 he received his doctorate on The Pehleviversion of the First Chapter of the Vendidâd . Subsequently, Geiger worked as a teacher at a grammar school in Neustadt adH. In 1882 his main scientific work in the field of Iranian studies, East Iranian Culture in Antiquity , was published. In 1884 Geiger switched from the Speyer high school to the Maximiliansgymnasium in Munich , where he taught German, Latin, Greek and geography. From April 25, 1888 until the end of the school year, he was given official leave for a scientific trip to England. From the winter semester of 1888/89 already a private lecturer in Munich, in 1891 he was appointed full professor of Indo-European linguistics at the philosophy faculty of the University of Erlangen . In 1896 his outline followed the Iranian Philology. Until about 1900 Geiger devoted himself mainly to Iranian studies, later he concentrated mainly on Indology and made several trips to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). His translations of the early Cylon chronicles Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa from the Pāḷi and his contributions to the development of this language are still important today . In 1920 Geiger accepted the call to the University of Munich , where he succeeded Ernst Kuhn .

Geiger was u. a. also teacher of the Hebrew language, associate member of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences and national-liberal member of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies from 1905 to 1906. In 1928 he was elected a corresponding member of the British Academy .

Geiger's sons from his first marriage to Marie Plochmann, the physicist Hans Geiger and the climatologist Rudolf Geiger were also important scientists. In the Loewenichstrasse in Erlangen, memorial plaques remember Wilhelm Geiger and his son Hans.

Awards

Geiger was an honorary member of the German Oriental Society , the American Oriental Society , the Société asiatique and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. From 1940 he was a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1935 he received the commemorative medal for the Buddhist 2500th anniversary celebrations from the Japanese emperor.

Publications

  • Aogemadaĉâ, a Pârsentractat in Pâzend, Old Bactrian and Sanskrit , Erlangen, 1878. Digitized
  • Ceylon. Journal sheets and travel memories. Kreidel, Wiesbaden 1898.
  • (Ed. with Ernst Kuhn ) Outline of Iranian Philology. Trübner, Strasbourg 1896.
  • Maldivian studies. 1900.
  • Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, the two chronicles of the island of Ceylon. Deichert, Erlangen / Leipzig 1901.
  • Dîpavamsa and Mahâvamsa and the historical tradition in Ceylon. G. Boehme, Leipzig 1905.
  • (with Magdalene Geiger) Pāli Dhamma mainly in canonical literature. Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1920.
  • Adolf Friedrich Stenzler : Elementary Book of Sanskrit. 2 parts. 3rd edition increased by a supplement. De Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig, 1923.
  • Discussion on Heinrich Junker, Aryan research. around 1930.
  • Sinhala etymologies. Stephen Austin and Sons, Hertford 1936.
  • Contributions to the Sinhalese language history. CH Beck, Munich 1942.
  • Small writings on Indology and Buddhist studies. Edited by Heinz Bechert . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1973.
  • The Buddha's Speeches: Grouped Gathering, Saṃyutta-nikāya. Translated from the Pālikanon by Wilhelm Geiger, Nyānaponika Mahāthera, Hellmuth Hecker . Beyerlein-Steinschulte, Stammbach 1997, ISBN 3-931095-16-9 .

Publications in English

  • The Age of the Avesta and Zoroaster , co-authored with Friedrich Spiegel, translated into English by Dārāb Dastur Peshotan Sanjānā, London 1886.
  • Civilization of the eastern Iranians in ancient times, with an introduction on the Avesta religion , translated into English by Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana, London 1885–1886.
  • Zarathushtra in the Gathas, and in the Greek and Roman classics , co-authored with Friedrich Heinrich Hugo Windischmann; translated into English by Dārāb Peshotan Sanjānā, Leipzig 1897.
  • The Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa and their historical development in Ceylon , translated into English by Ethel M. Coomaraswamy, Colombo 1908.
  • The Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon , English translation assisted by Bode, Mabel Haynes, Pali Text Society, London 1912. ( scan ( Memento from June 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))
  • Maldivian Linguistic Studies , Colombo 1919.
  • The Language of the Väddās , Calcutta 1935.
  • A Grammar of the Sinhalese Language Colombo 1938.
  • Pali Literature and Language , translated by Batakrishna Ghosh from the German original, Calcutta 1943. Revised by KR Norman under the title A Pali Grammar , Oxford 1994.
  • Cūlavamsa: being the more recent part of the Mahāvamsa , English translation assisted by Christian Mabel Duff Rickmers, Colombo 1953.
  • Culture of Ceylon in mediaeval times , edited by Heinz Bechert, Wiesbaden 1960.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Annual report on the k. Maximilians-Gymnasium for the school year 1883/84
  2. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  3. ↑ . Panels. ( Memento from January 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Geiger, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geiger, Wilhelm Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Indologist and Iranist
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 1943
Place of death Neubiberg