F. W. Thomas
Encyclopedia
Frederick William Thomas (1867-1956) was an Indologist and Tibetologist. He studied Sanskrit under the influential Orientalist Edward Byles Cowell
at Cambridge. He was a librarian at the India Office Library (now subsumed into the British Library
) between 1898 and 1927. Subsequently he was appointed the Boden professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University between 1927 and 1937. His students at Oxford included Harold Walter Bailey
. He collaborated with Jacques Bacot
in publishing a collection of Old Tibetan historical texts. In addition he studied many Old Tibetan texts himself which were collected in his four-volume Tibetan literary texts and documents concerning Chinese Turkestan and Ancient folk-literature from North-Eastern Tibet. He also published a monograph on the Nam language, and wrote an unpublished work on the Zhangzhung language. His catalogues of the Tibetan manuscripts from Central Asia brought to the India Office Library by Marc Aurel Stein
remained unpublished until 2007, when his catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts from Stein's third expedition was published on the website of the International Dunhuang Project
.
Edward Byles Cowell
Professor Edward Byles Cowell FBA was a noted translator of Persian poetry and the first professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University....
at Cambridge. He was a librarian at the India Office Library (now subsumed into the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
) between 1898 and 1927. Subsequently he was appointed the Boden professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University between 1927 and 1937. His students at Oxford included Harold Walter Bailey
Harold Walter Bailey
Sir Harold Walter Bailey , who published as H. W. Bailey, was an eminent English scholar of Khotanese, Sanskrit, and the comparative study of Iranian languages....
. He collaborated with Jacques Bacot
Jacques Bacot
Jacques Bacot was an explorer and pioneering French Tibetologist. He travelled extensively in India, western China, and the Tibetan border regions. He worked at the École pratique des hautes études. Bacot was the first western scholar to study the Tibetan grammatical tradition, and along with F. W...
in publishing a collection of Old Tibetan historical texts. In addition he studied many Old Tibetan texts himself which were collected in his four-volume Tibetan literary texts and documents concerning Chinese Turkestan and Ancient folk-literature from North-Eastern Tibet. He also published a monograph on the Nam language, and wrote an unpublished work on the Zhangzhung language. His catalogues of the Tibetan manuscripts from Central Asia brought to the India Office Library by Marc Aurel Stein
Marc Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein KCIE, FBA was a Hungarian archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at various Indian universities.-Early life:Stein was born in Budapest into a Jewish family...
remained unpublished until 2007, when his catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts from Stein's third expedition was published on the website of the International Dunhuang Project
International Dunhuang Project
The International Dunhuang Project is an international collaborative effort to conserve, catalogue and digitise manuscripts, printed texts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from Dunhuang and various other archaeological sites at the eastern end of the Silk Road...
.
Works
- (1897) (with E.B. Cowell) The Harsa-carita of Bana. London: Royal Asiatic Society.
- (1903) Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS.
- (1929) (with Sten Konow) Two medieval documents from Tun-Huang. Oslo, A.W. Brøggers boktrykkeri.
- (1933) Arthur Anthony Macdonell, 1854-1930. London: Milford.
- (1935-1963) Tibetan literary texts and documents concerning Chinese Turkestan. [4 vols.] London: Royal Asiatic Society.
- (1940-1946) (with Jacques Bacot and Gustave-Charles Toussaint) Documents de Touen-houang relatifs à l'histoire du Tibet. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
- (1948) NamNam languageLalou, Marcelle . “Sur la langue « nam ».” Journal Asiatique 231: 453.Thomas, Frederick William . “The Nam Language.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 3: 630-634....
, an ancient language of the Sino-Tibetan borderland. London, Oxford Univ. Press. - (1957) Ancient folk-literature from North-Eastern Tibet. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
- (2007) Stein Tibetan: Third Expedition http://idp.bl.uk/database/oo_cat.a4d?shortref=Thomas_2007
External links
- A. J. Arberry, ‘Thomas, Frederick William (1867–1956)’, rev. J. B. Katz, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004