Wolja Erichsen

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Wolja Erichsen (born November 21, 1890 in Copenhagen , † March 25, 1966 in Frederiksberg ) was a Danish Egyptologist specializing in Coptic Studies and in particular Demotistics . He was one of the most important demotists of the 20th century.

Wolja Erichsen was born the son of a ship's captain. He studied Oriental Languages at the University of Copenhagen and graduated in 1923 with a master's degree. The demotic language was introduced to him by Kurt Sethe . Two years later he worked on the Egyptian dictionary project in Berlin , which he stayed until 1944. Along with Hermann Grapow , he was the most important contributor to the creation of the second volume. In 1933 his revision of the New Egyptian grammar by Adolf Erman was published . Between 1937 and 1960 Erichsen published collections of demotic readings with dictionaries and lists of scripts. For a long time they were used as general textbooks and some are still used today. In addition, he worked on and edited a large number of documents, including oracle fragments as well as mythological, literary and medical texts, but also legal documents. Thanks to his calligraphic skills, he was also jointly responsible for the appearance of the Egyptian dictionary, the appearance of which he played a key role. He also made the handwritten manuscript. In 1948 Erichsen became honorary professor at the University of Mainz for five years , making him the first representative of the subject at Mainz University after 1945, followed by Erich Lüddeckens . There he also gave private lessons, for example for Ursula Kaplony-Heckel , who even followed her teacher to Copenhagen. In 1955 he became a lecturer in Coptic at Copenhagen University, which made him professor of Egyptology in 1963 at the age of 72.

He could no longer complete two projects that Erichsen had started; they were only completed long after Erich Lüddecken's death thanks to the initiative of Erichsen's colleague: a lexicon of demotic personal names and the publication of papyri from Hawara . The Demotic Documents from Hawara were published in 1998, the Demotic Name Book between 1980 and 2000. He was a member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature . In 1939 he was awarded the Berlin Leibniz Medal .

Fonts

  • Faijum fragments of the speeches of the Agathonicus Bishop of Tarsus. AF Höst & Sön, Copenhagen 1932
  • Harris I Papyrus. Hieroglyphic Transcription. Ed. de la Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, Brussels 1933
  • Demotic reading pieces. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1937–1940
  • Demotic oracle questions. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1942
  • Selection of early demotic texts for use in academic teaching and for self-study. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1950
  • An Egyptian school exercise in demotic script. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1948 (Historisk-filologiske meddelelser, Volume 31, No. 4)
  • with Siegfried Schott : Fragments of Memphite theology in demotic script (Pap. demot. Berlin 13603). Publishing house of the academy of science and literature (Steiner), Mainz (Wiesbaden) 1954 (= treatises of the academy of science and literature. Humanities and social sciences class. Born 1954, No. 7).
  • Demotic glossary. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1954
  • A new demotic narrative. Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur (on commission from Steiner), Mainz (Wiesbaden) 1956 (= treatises of the academy of science and literature. Humanities and social science class. Born 1956, no. 2).
  • The statutes of an Egyptian cult association from the Ptolemaic period. After a demotic papyrus in Prague. Ejnar Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1959 (Historisk-filologiske skrifter, Volume 4, No. 1)
  • A demotic deed of donation from the time of Darius. Publishing house of the academy of science and literature (Steiner), Mainz (Wiesbaden) 1963 (= treatises of the academy of science and literature. Humanities and social science class. 1962, no. 6).

literature

supporting documents

  1. ^ The digitized note archive and the dictionary of the Egyptian language
  2. ^ Institute for Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. History of the institute ( memento from November 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Ursula Kaplony-Heckel: Land and people on the Nile according to demotic manuscripts, papyri and ostraka. Collected writings part 1. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-06011-0 (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Volume 71), p. XIII
personal data
SURNAME Erichsen, Wolja
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish Egyptologist specializing in Coptic Studies and Demotistics
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1966
Place of death Frederiksberg