Wilhelm Gesenius
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (born February 3, 1786 in Nordhausen , † October 23, 1842 in Halle an der Saale ) was a German theologian , scholar of the cultures and history of the Middle East and one of the most important scholars and researchers of the Semitic languages, especially the Hebrew .
Life
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm was born as the son of the Nordhausen doctor Wilhelm Gesenius . He initially received private lessons and then attended the high school in Nordhausen until 1803. After the early death of his father, he was accepted by the philologist and then rector of the grammar school, Christian Ludwig Lenz (1760-1833).
Gesenius studied philosophy and theology with Heinrich Henke at the University of Helmstedt . He received his doctorate in theology and philosophy in 1813, was the Royal Prussian Consistorial Councilor , since 1810 extraordinary professor and in the same year full professor at the theological faculty of the University of Halle , member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences , the Asian Societies of Paris, Great Britain and Ireland and the Philosophical Society at Cambridge. His lectures were extremely popular. In an obituary it is reported that he had up to a thousand listeners at times, with a total of 1500 students at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.
On his 50th birthday in 1836, his hometown Nordhausen awarded him the honorary citizenship of the city.
Gesenius was with Henriette Gesenius geb. Schneidewind (1797-1853) married. The common grave is on the Stadtgottesacker in Halle an der Saale (Department I, grave 227). His son, Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius , also became an English language teacher for foreign languages.
Scientific work
Gesenius' work on Hebrew language research is considered groundbreaking. He was one of the first to pursue the study of Semitic languages with scientific standards. As a moderate (theological) rationalist , he came into opposition to the contemporary attitude that Semitic languages are sacred. Comprehensive historical, archaeological and religious-historical knowledge give his works additional authority as the leading orientalist of his time.
Lexicography and grammar were his main areas. The influence of his work extends to the present day. His Hebrew grammar is still published and used today in reprographic reprints of the early 20th century editions. His Hebrew and Aramaic Concise Dictionary of the Scriptures of the Old Testament appeared in several parts from 1810 to 1812, there were shorter versions of it for school lessons and several revisions and new editions. It established the modern lexicography of Hebrew, and Gesenius' influence is likely to eclipse all other Hebrew lexicographers. The dictionary was last published in its 18th edition in 2013 in a fundamental revision by Rudolf Meyer and Herbert Donner , which had previously appeared in seven separate deliveries from 1987 to 2012. Both the grammar and the dictionary were published in Latin and English and were models for grammars and dictionaries in other languages.
The dictionary formed the basis for Semitic studies as a comparative language subject. But Gesenius did much more in the field of Semitic languages:
- The Aramaic part of the concise dictionary set the standard for Aramaic lexicography for a long time. At the time of Gesenius, Aramaic was still called Chaldean.
- His essay on the Maltese language from 1810 laid the basis for Maltesiology . Gesenius was able to prove that Maltese is not a form of Punic , but is related to Maghrebian , thus an independent development of Arabic .
- Gesenius conducted intensive research in the field of Phoenician and Punic. The result of his research led to the publication of Scripturae linguaeque pheniciae monumenta from 1837.
- Gesenius also created a basis for the study of Semitic inscriptions. He was a successful Semitic epigraphist .
- The script Himjarite language and script and decipherment of the latter gives the first interpretation of Sabaean inscriptions . The Sabaean language was still completely unknown at the time.
- Gesenius published several writings on the literary heritage of the Samaritans and thus became the founder of Samaritanology . He was the first to subject the material to a systematic analysis.
Gesenius visiting professorship
The Gesenius tradition is kept alive to this day, especially at the University of Halle. It is customary for students to make a pilgrimage to the city cemetery in front of the Hebraicum , in which "the Gesenius" is a common aid, and to place a stone on its grave.
Since 2012, a Gesenius visiting professorship has been awarded to outstanding Hebraists at the Institute for Biblical Studies there at irregular intervals. A special feature is that the language of instruction in the courses of the visiting professors is mostly modern Hebrew . The following Gesenius visiting professors have existed so far:
- Avraham Tal (2012)
- Moshe Florentin (2013)
- Emanuel Tov (2014)
- Moshe Bar-Asher (2016)
- Robert A. Harris (2018)
- Elisha Qimron (2019)
- Itamar Kislev (2020)
Fonts
- Symbolae observationum in Ovidii fastos, novae Fastorum editionis specimen. Dissertation Göttingen 1806
- Experiment about the Maltese language. 1810
- Hebrew-German concise dictionary on the writings of the Old Testament including the geographical names and the Chaldean words from Daniel u. Esra. 2 parts, 1810/1812
- Hebrew grammar . 1813. 28th edition Leipzig 1909, archive.org . Reprint: Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1983, ISBN 3-487-00325-2
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New Hebrew-German concise dictionary on the Old Testament including biblical Chaldaism. Leipzig 1815, from 10th edition 1886: Hebrew and Aramaic concise dictionary on the Old Testament .
- 16th edition in connection with Heinrich Zimmer , Wilhelm Max Müller , Otto Weber ; Edited by Frants Buhl , digitized from the 16th edition, 1915 .
- 17th edition: unchanged, photographically reproduced reprints of the 16th edition. Even after the 18th edition was published in 2013, reprints of the 17th edition are still available in bookshops.
- 18th edition. Re-edited and ed. by Herbert Donner . Springer Verlag, Berlin a. a. 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-25680-6 . The 18th edition had been published in single deliveries since 1987.
- Hebrew reader. 1814, 7th edition 1844
- History of the Hebrew Language and Script. 1815, archive.org
- De pentateuchi Samaritani origine, indole et auctoritate commentatio philologico-critica. Hall 1815, archive.org
- Hebrew Elementary Book. 1813
- Extensive grammatical-critical teaching structure of the Hebrew language. With comparison of the related dialects. 1817
- The Prophet Isaiah, translated and accompanied by a philological, critical and historical commentary. 3 d., 1820 f.
- Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae hebraeae et chaldaeae Vet.Test. Vol. I, 1828, Vol. II, 1839, Vol. III, 1, 1842, Vol. III, 2, 1853, Indices, 1858, the last 2 vols. v. E. Roediger
- Paleolographic studies of Phoenician and Punic writing. 1835
- Scripturae linguaeque Pheniciae monumenta quotquot supersunt edita et inedita ad autographorum optimorumque exemplorum fidem. 3 parts, Leipzig 1837
literature
- Gustav Moritz Redslob : Gesenius, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 89-93.
- Hans-Jürgen Zobel : Gesenius, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 340 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : GESENIUS, Wilhelm. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 234.
- Udo Rüterswörden: Gesenius, Wilhelm. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
- Stadtarchiv Nordhausen (ed.): Nordhausen personalities from eleven centuries. Geiger, Horb am Neckar 2009, ISBN 978-3-86595-336-0 , pp. 99-101.
- Stefan Schorch, Ernst-Joachim Waschke (ed.): Biblical exegesis and Hebrew lexicography. The “Hebrew-German Concise Dictionary” by Wilhelm Gesenius as a mirror and source of Old Testament and Hebrew research, 200 years after its first edition (= John Barton, Reinhard G. Kratz et al .: Supplements to the Journal for Old Testament Science (BZAW). Vol . 427). De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-026612-2
Web links
- Literature by and about Wilhelm Gesenius in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Wilhelm Gesenius in the German Digital Library
- Wilhelm Gesenius in the Internet Archive
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Nordhausen City Archives, Hans-Jürgen Grönke (Ed.): Nordhausen personalities from eleven centuries . Geiger, Horb am Neckar 2009, ISBN 978-3-86595-336-0 , p. 99 f.
- ^ Journal for Old Testament Science (BZAW), 427, p. XI, with reference to: Necrolog Wilhelm Gesenius. In: Intelligence Journal of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung. No. 62–63, November 1842, p. 509 (accessed via De Gruyter Online)
- ↑ Journal for Old Testament Science (BZAW), 427, p. XIII.
- ^ List of Gesenius visiting professors .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Gesenius, Wilhelm |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gesenius, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German theologian and linguist |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 3, 1786 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Nordhausen |
DATE OF DEATH | October 23, 1842 |
Place of death | Halle on the Saale |