William Wright (Orientalist)

William Wright ( born January 17, 1830 in Mullye, India, † May 22 1889 in Cambridge ) was an English orientalist.

Life

William Wright was born in 1830 in Mullye in India near the border with Nepal. His father worked there in the service of the British East India Company. To study Wright was sent back to the British homeland, where he studied at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, later also in Hall at the University of Halle- Wittenberg and the University of Leiden Semitic languages ​​, Persian and Turkish.

At the age of 25 years, Wright has been a professor of the Arabic language at University College London. After just one year, he moved to Trinity College Dublin. After returning to England, he was from 1861 to 1870 at the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum engaged in the care of the Syrian and Ethiopian manuscripts, where he edited a particular still indispensable catalog Syrian manuscripts.

From 1870 until his death in 1889 he was then Professor of the Arabic Language at the University of Cambridge. Here were his scientific work, especially of Arabic grammar and Arabic poetry. Based on the Arabic grammar of P. Caspari, which he translated into English and added to a selbständischen work, he studied the Arabic language and literature. So he gave out, for example, Al- Mubarrids, Kamil '.

In 1887, he was elected a foreign member of the Prussian Order pour le Merite for Arts and Science.

In 1889 he died in Cambridge.

Writings

A bibliography of his works, compiled by RL Benaly be found in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1889, pp. 708-709.

  • Kamil (Al Mubarrid ), 11 volumes, 1864-82.
  • The book of Jonah in four Semitic versions: Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic Aethiopic. London 1857.
  • Contributions to the apocryphal literature of the New Testament. Collected and edited from Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum, with an English translation and notes. , 1865.
  • The departure of my Lady Mary from this world. Edited from two Syriac MSS. in the British Museum, and translated by W. Wright. (1865 ) (Journal of sacred literature and Biblical record for January and April, 1865)
  • The homilies of Aphraates, the Persian say. [by] Aphraates, the Persian say. (1869 ) Text in Syriac.
  • A Grammar of The Arabic Language. (London ), Simon Wallenberg Press, vol 1 & Vol 2 ISBN 1843560283 Arabic grammar, 2 volumes, reprinted 1970
Dictionary of National Biography Bernhard Maier John Venn Cambridge University Press Integrated Authority File
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