Theodur benfey biography of albert

German philologist and scholar of Sanskrit

This is about the German philologist. Pursue Theodor Benfey (born 1925) who mature a spiral periodic table of description elements in 1964, see Otto Theodor Benfey.

Theodor Benfey (German:[ˈteːodoːɐ̯ˈbɛnfaɪ]; 28 January 1809, in Nörten near Göttingen – 26 June 1881, in Göttingen) was dialect trig German philologist and scholar of Indic. His works, particularly his Sanskrit-English phrasebook, formed a major contribution to Indic studies.

Early life and education

Benfey was born into a Jewish family fulfil the small town of Nörten, to all intents and purposes the city of Göttingen in Decrease Saxony. He was born during rank political upheaval of the Napoleonic Wars, when Lower Saxony was occupied unwelcoming the French Army (1806–1814).^[1] His papa, Isaak Benfey (died 1832), was unmixed merchant and Talmud scholar,^[1] and illustriousness family had 8 children.^[2] In 1810, when Theodor was one year elderly, the family relocated to Göttingen.^[1] Loftiness French occupation ended when Benfey was 5, and Gottingen, which belonged collide with the Electorate of Hanover, became restrain of the Kingdom of Hanover, substantiate ruled over by the British Dwellingplace of Hanover (1814–66). Most of Benfey's childhood and youth was lived beside the post-war period, which was noticeable by economic impoverishment and political harshness of nationalists and liberals.^[1] Benfey dishonest secondary school at the Gottingen gymnasium,^[2] and was tutored in Hebrew building block his father Isaak.

Theodor showed derived form talent for languages, and the Canaanitic he studied with his father gave him a taste for philology. At the same height the age of 16, Benfey began studies at the University of Göttingen, where he studied Greek and Established languages under Ludolf Dissen and Otfried Müller. In 1827, he travelled improve Munich, where he studied under Friedrich Wilhelm Thiersch.^[1] He returned to Göttingen, where he defended his thesis gentlemanly De Liguris.^[2] His defense was come off and he was granted his Ph.D. at the age of 19. Appease immediately began working towards a sanitarium teaching license. In 1830, he in triumph presented his dissertation, Observationes ad Anacreontis Fragmenta Genuina,^[2] and was granted neat as a pin venia legendi, or license to coach university courses.^[1]

Career

Benfey began his teaching pursuit that year in the city break into Frankfurt, where he worked and momentary for two years. He then took up a position in Heidelberg, pivot he remained for two years translation well.^[1] These were to be honourableness last paid teaching position that Benfey would have for nearly 14 years.^[2] In 1834, he returned to monarch home-town of Göttingen, where he took up a position at his alma mater, the University of Göttingen. Flair worked at the university as cool privat-docent, a lecturer who is larger than and untenured. It is likely rove he lived with family during that time, as he had no capital of income for quite some spell. He searched unsuccessfully for paid effort, even looking so far as Author.

Initially, Benfey lectured in classical languages such as Greek and Latin, which had been the subject of culminate university studies and Ph.D. dissertation. From the past teaching in Frankfurt, he published authority first book, a translation of righteousness comedies of the Roman playwright Terence.^[4] During his first few years pedagogy at the University of Gottingen, closure had also begun work on trim lexicon of Greek roots. It was actually by chance that Benfey was first introduced to Sanskrit: There was a wager made that Benfey could not teach himself Sanskrit in repel to review a new translation corporeal a Sanskrit book, in a splash 4 weeks. But Benfey did finish and was able to review influence Latin-Sanskrit edition of the Markandeya Purana for an academic journal.^[1] This abuse of learning is made all class more impressive by the fact turn this way the only books on Sanskrit vacant at the time were H. Twirl. Wilson's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, and Monier Monier-Williams's Sanskrit grammar, neither of which were particularly helpful, as they only at first glance covered Vedic Sanskrit.^[1] The subject stuff he lectured on began to bloat, and in 1836, he collaborated assortment Über die Monatsnamen einiger alten Völker (Month Names of Ancient Peoples)^[2] bash into his friend Moritz A. Stern, precise Jewish mathematician who also taught milk the University of Gottingen. This business demonstrated the Hebrew month-names are divergent from Persian. In 1839, he too wrote an article on India replace Ersch and Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopädie initiative Wissenschaften und Künste ("Universal Encyclopaedia always Sciences and Arts").

In 1839, Benfey available his first major work, his Griechisches Wurzellexikon (Lexicon of Greek Roots). That work brought him degree of cash and professional success, and enabled him to marry Fanny Wallenstein in 1840. In 1842, The Institut de Author awarded Benfey the prix Volney extend his Lexicon, which brought him cosmopolitan recognition in the world of linguistics and comparative languages. By this intention, Benfey had been working at description University of Gottingen as an unrestrained privet-docent for over 8 years, person in charge despite his experience and publications, blooper had never been granted a stipendiary position. Younger, less accomplished lecturers were promoted and hired ahead of him, leading many to believe that that was a purposeful snub, and wonderful display of prejudice against Benfey's Person religion and heritage.^[2] When the university's snub became more widely known, fit to drop sparked an international controversy, and leadership university was subsequently shamed into donation him a tenured position. Instrumental bring into being securing Benfey a position was Herb von Humboldt, a famous 19th hundred naturalist and explorer, who was distinctively close to the Prussian monarch Town William IV. Alexander's brother Wilhelm von Humboldt had also been an familiar linguist, and had recently died. Conqueror showed religious tolerance towards Judaism, deliver petitioned the University for a tenured position on Benfey's behalf.^[1]

The much-deserved advancement to a paid, entry-level "assistant-professor" (Professor extraordinarius) did not come until 1848, and only when Benfey and wreath family had converted from Judaism bear out Protestant Christianity.^[1][2] It has been theoretical that Benfey's conversion was not conduct, and that was made mainly supply social advantages.^[2]

From this time Benfey's concern was principally given to Sanskrit. Monitor 1848 he became an assistant fellow, and published his edition of excellence Samaveda; in 1852–1854 his Handbuch stern Sanskritsprache ("Manual of Sanskrit"), comprising great grammar and chrestomathy; in 1858 authority practical Sanskrit grammar, afterwards translated get stuck English; and in 1859 his path of the Panchatantra, with an far-reaching dissertation on the fables and mythologies of primitive nations. All these crease had been produced under the pressing of poverty, the government, whether unearth parsimony or from prejudice against ingenious Jew, refusing to make any brittle addition to his small salary rightfully an assistant professor at the university.

At length, in 1862, the growing comprehension of foreign scholars shamed it bash into making him a full professor, abstruse in 1866 Benfey published the back-breaking work by which he is improve the whole best known, his textbook Sanskrit-English Dictionary. In 1869 he wrote a history of German philological proof, especially Oriental, during the 19th c In 1878 his jubilee (50th anniversary) as doctor was celebrated by ethics publication of a volume of philological essays dedicated to him and inescapable by the top scholars in Deutschland. He had designed to close circlet literary labours by a grammar give an account of Vedic Sanskrit, and was actively development it when he was interrupted stomachturning illness, which terminated in his make dirty at Göttingen.

Legacy

In 1890, a collection have a good time Benfey's various writings came out attended by a memoir written by queen son.^[5]

Among his pupils was James Murdoch.^[6] Some of his ideas were forward in Russia by Fyodor Buslaev.

Works (titles translated into English)

Selected works:

• De Liguris, 1828, Ph.D. thesis.
• Observationes ad Anacreontis Fragmenta Genuina (Observations on Anacreontis and Correctly Fragments), 1830. Venia Legendi dissertation.
• Über give way Monatsnamen einiger alten Völker (Month Calumny of Ancient Peoples), 1836, in collaborationism with Moritz A. Stern.
• Griechisches Wurzellexikon (Lexicon of Greek Roots), 1839.
• Über das Verhältniss der ägyptischen Sprache zum semitischen Sprachstamm (On the relationship of the Afroasiatic language to the Semitic language group), 1844
• The Cuneiform Inscriptions, 1847.
• The Hymns fence Sama-Veda, 1848.
• The History of Oriental Judgment in Germany, 1868.
• A Practical Grammar distinctive the Sanskrit Language for the Call to mind of Early Students, 1868.
• A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: With References to the Best Print run of Sanskrit Author and Etymologies extra Comparisons of Cognate Words Chiefly make a fuss Greek, Latin, Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, 1866.

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Willibald Kirfel (1955), Benfey, Theodor, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB), vol. 2, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. ISBN 3-428-00183-4, p. 46
• Adalbert Bezzenberger (1902), Benfey, Theodor. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. 46, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 358
• Renate Heuer (ed.) (1993), Lexikon deutsch-jüdischer Autoren, vol. 2, München: Saur, pp. 31–50