Hartwig Hirschfeld
| |
|---|---|
| Born | (1854-12-18)18 December 1854 |
| Died | 10 January 1934(1934-01-10) (aged 79) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse |
Pauline Loewe
(m. 1890; died 1929) |
| Children | Louis Hirschfeld (1893–1898)[1] Rosamund Hirschfeld (b. 1895) Beatrice Amelie Hirschfeld (b. 1897) Dorothy Hirschfeld |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Strasburg |
| Thesis | Jüdische elemente im Ḳorân: Ein beitrag zur Ḳorânforschung (1878) |
| Doctoral advisor | Theodor Nöldeke |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Judith Lady Montefiore College Jews' College University College London |
| Main interests | Oriental studies |
Hartwig Hirschfeld MRAS (Hebrew: נַפְתָּלִי הַארְטְוִויג בֵּן אַהֲרֹן הִירְשְׁפֵלְד; 18 December 1854 – 10 January 1934) was a Prussian-born British Orientalist, bibliographer, and educator. His particular scholarly interest lay in Arabic Jewish literature and in the relationship between Jewish and Arab cultures.[2] He is best known for his editions of Judah Halevi's Kuzari—which he published in its original Judeo-Arabic and in Hebrew, German and English translations—and his studies on the Cairo Geniza.[3][4]
Hartwig Hirschfeld was born to a Jewish family in Thorn, Prussia. His father, Dr. Aron Hirschfeld, was a rabbi from Dirschau, and his maternal grandfather was the distinguished rabbi Salomon Plessner.[5] After graduating from the Royal Marien Gymnasium in Posen, Hirschfeld studied Oriental languages and philosophy at the University of Berlin, at the same time attending lectures at Azriel Hildesheimer's Rabbiner-Seminar.[6] He received his doctorate from the University of Strasburg in 1878 and, after a year's compulsory service in the Prussian Army, he obtained a travelling scholarship in 1882 which enabled him to study Arabic and HebrewatParis under Joseph Derenbourg.[7]
After teaching in Posen for a few years, Hirschfeld immigrated to England in 1889, where he became professor of Biblical exegesis, Semitic languages, and philosophy at the Montefiore College.[7] In 1901, he was invited by the Syndicate of Cambridge University to examine the Arabic fragments in the Taylor-Schechter collection.[6] That same year, he was appointed librarian and professor of Semitic languages at Jews' College, a position he occupied until 1929. At the same time, he became a lecturerinSemitic epigraphyatUniversity College London in 1903, a lecturer in Ethiopic in 1906, and full professor and Goldsmid Lecturer in Hebrew there in 1924.
Hirschfeld's publications include a German translation of Judah Halevi's Kuzari, relying on the Arabic original (1885); a critical edition of the Arabic text and the Hebrew translation by Judah ibn Tibbon (1887); an English translation (1905), of which a revised edition appeared in 1932;[8] Arabic Chrestomathy in Hebrew Characters (1892); the Al-Sab'iniyya, an Arabic philosophic poembyMusa ibn Tubi (1894); Beiträge zur Erklärung des Koran (1886), elaborated into New Researches into the Composition and Exegesis of the Koran (1902); the Hebrew translation of the Book of DefinitionsbyIsaac Israeli (1896); Yefet ben Ali's commentary on the Book of Nahum (1911); Sketch of Hebrew Grammar (1913); Qirqisānī Studies (1918); An Ethiopic-Falasi Glossary (1921); Commentary on Deuteronomy (1925); and Literary History of Hebrew Grammarians and Lexicographers (1926). Among his bibliographical writings are a Descriptive Catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. of the Montefiore Library (1904). Hirschfeld also contributed articles to numerous periodicals, most notably a series of essays on the Arabic fragments in the Cairo Geniza in the Jewish Quarterly Review (1903–1908).[9]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; Emanuel, Victor Rousseau (1904). "Hirschfeld, Hartwig". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 420.
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