Wilhelm Gesenius
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 1786 – 23 October 1842) was a German
orientalist
and Biblical critic
.
. In 1803 he became a student of philosophy
and theology
at the University of Helmstedt
, where Heinrich Henke
was his most influential teacher; but the latter part of his university course was taken at the Göttingen, where Johann Gottfried Eichhorn
and Thomas Christian Tychsen
were then at the height of their popularity. In 1806, shortly after graduation, he became Repetent and Privatdozent
at Göttingen; and, as he was later proud to say, had August Neander
for his first pupil in Hebrew language
. In 1810 he became professor extraordinarius in theology, and in 1811 ordinarius, at the University of Halle, where, in spite of many offers of high preferment elsewhere, he spent the rest of his life.
He taught with great regularity for over thirty years. The only interruptions occurred in 1813-1814, occasioned by the German War of Liberation (War of the Sixth Coalition
), during which the university was closed, and those occasioned by two prolonged literary tours, first in 1820 to Paris, London
and Oxford with his colleague Johann Karl Thilo
(1794–1853) for the examination of rare oriental manuscripts, and in 1835 to England and the Netherlands
in connection with his Phoenicia
n studies. He became the most popular teacher of Hebrew and of Old Testament
introduction and exegesis
in Germany; during his later years his lectures were attended by nearly five hundred students. Among his pupils the most eminent were Peter von Bohlen, C. P. W. Gramberg
, A. G. Hoffmann
, Hermann Hupfeld
, Emil Rödiger
, J. F. Tuch
, Johann Karl Wilhelm Vatke
and Theodor Benfey
.
In 1827, after declining an invitation to take Eichhorn's place at Göttingen, Gesenius was made a Consistorialrath; but, apart from the violent attacks to which he, along with his friend and colleague Julius Wegscheider, was in 1830 subjected by E. W. Hengstenberg
and his party in the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, on account of his rationalism
, his life was uneventful.
Gesenius died at Halle and is buried near the university. According to tradition, theology students in Halle put stones on his grave as a token of respect every year before their examinations.
Gesenius takes much of the credit for having freed Semitic
philology
from the trammels of theological and religious prepossession, and for inaugurating the strictly scientific (and comparative) method which has since been so fruitful. As an exegete
he exercised a powerful influence on theological investigation.
was of Punic
origin. In the same year appeared the first volume of the Hebräisches u. Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch, completed in 1812. Revised editions of this appear periodically in Germany.
Of particular interest to English-speaking students of Hebrew are two related works, which arrived on modern library shelves through parallel paths. In 1833, Gesenius published a Latin work, the Lexicon Manuale Hebraicum et Chaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti Libros, and in 1834 a corresponding issue of the German work, Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament. The Lexicon Manuale was subsequently translated to English in America by Edward Robinson D.D.
in 1836. The British scholar and theologian Tregelles
published his own version in 1846, which was reissued in 1857 with special warnings in a section "To The Student" about scholarly attacks on Christianity and the dangers of Gesenius' rationalism.
The publication of a new Hebrew-English Lexicon was started in 1892 under the editorship of Professors Francis Brown
, Samuel Rolles Driver
and Charles Augustus Briggs
, now well known as the Brown Driver Briggs
lexicon or BDB for short. It was published in 1906. With the Lexicon Manuale as a starting point, it drew heavily from the Hebräisches und Chaldäisches as well as Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (external link below) and Thesaurus (cited below). Since then, both the Tregelles Lexicon and the BDB and have been reissued with Strong's numbering system
to aid in navigating their contents.
The Hebräische Grammatik, published in 1813 (28th edition by Emil Kautzsch; English translation by Arthur Ernest Cowley, 1910; 29th edition [incomplete] by Gotthelf Bergstrasser
, 1918–29), was followed in 1815 by the Geschichte der hebräischen Sprache (now very rare), and in 1817 by the Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der hebräischen Sprache.
The first volume of his well-known commentary on Isaiah
(Der Prophet Jesaia), with a translation, appeared in 1821; but the work was not completed until 1829. The Thesaurus philologico-criticus linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae Veteris Testamenti, begun in 1829, he did not live to complete; the latter part of the third volume is edited by Rödiger (1853). Other works include: De Pentateuchi Samaritana origine, indole, et auctoritate (1815), supplemented in 1822 and 1824 by the treatise De Samaritanorum theologia, and by an edition of Carmina Samaritana; Paläographische Studien über phönizische u. punische Schrift (1835), a pioneering work which he followed up in 1837 by his collection of Phoenician monuments (Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae monumenta quotquot supersunt); an Aramaic
lexicon
(1834–1839); and a treatise on the Himyarite language written in conjunction with Rödiger in 1841.
Gesenius also contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie
, and enriched the German translation of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
's Travels in Syria and the Holy Land with valuable geographical notes. For many years he also edited the Halle Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung. A sketch of his life was published anonymously in 1843 (Gesenius: eine Erinnerung für seine Freunde), and another by Hermann Gesenius, Wilhelm Gesenius, ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjährigen Geburtstag am 3. Februar 1886, in 1886.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
orientalist
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
and Biblical critic
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...
.
Biography
He was born at NordhausenNordhausen
Nordhausen is a town at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Nordhausen...
. In 1803 he became a student of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at the University of Helmstedt
University of Helmstedt
The University of Helmstedt, official Latin name: Academia Julia , was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810....
, where Heinrich Henke
Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke
Heinrich Philipp Konrad Henke , German theologian, best known as a writer on church history, was born at Hehlen, Brunswick....
was his most influential teacher; but the latter part of his university course was taken at the Göttingen, where Johann Gottfried Eichhorn
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn was a German Protestant theologian of Enlightenment and early orientalist.-Education and early career:...
and Thomas Christian Tychsen
Thomas Christian Tychsen
Thomas Christian Tychsen was a German orientalist and Lutheran theologian. He is known for his 1823 grammar of the Arabic language.-External links:...
were then at the height of their popularity. In 1806, shortly after graduation, he became Repetent and Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
at Göttingen; and, as he was later proud to say, had August Neander
August Neander
Johann August Wilhelm Neander , was a German theologian and church historian.-Biography:Neander was born at Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, is said to have been a Jewish pedlar, but August adopted the name of Neander on his baptism as a Protestant Christian...
for his first pupil in Hebrew language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. In 1810 he became professor extraordinarius in theology, and in 1811 ordinarius, at the University of Halle, where, in spite of many offers of high preferment elsewhere, he spent the rest of his life.
He taught with great regularity for over thirty years. The only interruptions occurred in 1813-1814, occasioned by the German War of Liberation (War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
), during which the university was closed, and those occasioned by two prolonged literary tours, first in 1820 to Paris, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Oxford with his colleague Johann Karl Thilo
Johann Karl Thilo
Johann Karl Thilo was a German theologian and biblical scholar.He studied theology at the University of Leipzig and a final semester at the University of Halle, where he was appointed to teach at the preparatory Paedagogium of the Francke institutions, and assisted his father-in-law, Georg...
(1794–1853) for the examination of rare oriental manuscripts, and in 1835 to England and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in connection with his Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
n studies. He became the most popular teacher of Hebrew and of Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
introduction and exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
in Germany; during his later years his lectures were attended by nearly five hundred students. Among his pupils the most eminent were Peter von Bohlen, C. P. W. Gramberg
Carl Peter Wilhelm Gramberg
Carl Peter Wilhelm Gramberg was a German theologian and biblical scholar.-Biography:Gramberg attended university at Halle, where he studied Hebrew Bible and Theology under Wilhelm Gesenius and Julius Wegscheider...
, A. G. Hoffmann
Andreas Gottlieb Hoffmann
Andreas Gottlieb Hoffmann was a German Protestant theologian and Orientalist born in Welbsleben. He was a leading authority on Syriac and Hebrew languages....
, Hermann Hupfeld
Hermann Hupfeld
Hermann Hupfeld , German Orientalist and Biblical commentator, was born at Marburg, where he studied philosophy and theology from 1813 to 1817....
, Emil Rödiger
Emil Rödiger
Emil Rödiger was a German orientalist. After studying theology at the University of Halle, he was appointed professor of oriental languages at the university. He moved to Berlin in 1860, and remained there for the rest of his life. He published a new edition of Lockman's Fables ; Syrische...
, J. F. Tuch
Johann Christian Friedrich Tuch
Johann Christian Friedrich Tuch was a German Orientalist and theologian born in Quedlinburg.He studied at the University of Halle, where in 1830 received his habilitation. In 1841 he relocated to the University of Leipzig as a professor of theology.His best written work was Kommentar über die...
, Johann Karl Wilhelm Vatke
Johann Karl Wilhelm Vatke
Johann Karl Wilhelm Vatke, known as Wilhelm Vatke , German Protestant theologian, was born at Behnsdorf, near Magdeburg. After acting as Privatdozent in Berlin, he was appointed in 1837 professor extraordinarius....
and Theodor Benfey
Theodor Benfey
This is about the philologist. For the Theodor Benfey who developed a spiral periodic table of the elements in 1964 -- Otto Theodor Benfey -- see Alternative periodic tables....
.
In 1827, after declining an invitation to take Eichhorn's place at Göttingen, Gesenius was made a Consistorialrath; but, apart from the violent attacks to which he, along with his friend and colleague Julius Wegscheider, was in 1830 subjected by E. W. Hengstenberg
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg
Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Herrmann Hengstenberg , was a German Lutheran churchman and neo-Lutheran theologian.He was born at Frondenberg, a Westphalian village, and was educated by his father, who was a minister of the Reformed Church and head of the Frondenberg convent of canonesses...
and his party in the Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, on account of his rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
, his life was uneventful.
Gesenius died at Halle and is buried near the university. According to tradition, theology students in Halle put stones on his grave as a token of respect every year before their examinations.
Gesenius takes much of the credit for having freed Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
from the trammels of theological and religious prepossession, and for inaugurating the strictly scientific (and comparative) method which has since been so fruitful. As an exegete
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
he exercised a powerful influence on theological investigation.
Writings
Of his many works, the earliest, published in 1810, entitled Versuch über die maltesische Sprache, was a successful refutation of the current opinion that the modern Maltese languageMaltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
was of Punic
Phoenician languages
Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called "Canaan" in Phoenician, Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic, "Phoenicia" in Greek and Latin, and "Pūt" in Ancient Egyptian. Phoenician is a Semitic language of the Canaanite subgroup; its closest living relative is Hebrew, to...
origin. In the same year appeared the first volume of the Hebräisches u. Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch, completed in 1812. Revised editions of this appear periodically in Germany.
Of particular interest to English-speaking students of Hebrew are two related works, which arrived on modern library shelves through parallel paths. In 1833, Gesenius published a Latin work, the Lexicon Manuale Hebraicum et Chaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti Libros, and in 1834 a corresponding issue of the German work, Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament. The Lexicon Manuale was subsequently translated to English in America by Edward Robinson D.D.
Edward Robinson (scholar)
Edward Robinson was an American biblical scholar, known as the “Father of Biblical Geography.” He has been referred to as the “founder of modern Palestinology.” -Biography:...
in 1836. The British scholar and theologian Tregelles
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles was an English biblical scholar, textual critic, and theologian.- Life :Tregelles was born at Wodehouse Place, Falmouth, of Quaker parents, but he himself for many years was in communion with the Plymouth Brethren and then later in life became a Presbyterian...
published his own version in 1846, which was reissued in 1857 with special warnings in a section "To The Student" about scholarly attacks on Christianity and the dangers of Gesenius' rationalism.
The publication of a new Hebrew-English Lexicon was started in 1892 under the editorship of Professors Francis Brown
Francis Brown
The Rev. Francis Brown , American Semitic scholar, was born in Hanover, New Hampshire.He was the son of Samuel Gilman Brown , president of Hamilton College from 1867 to 1881, and the grandson of Francis Brown, whose removal from the presidency of Dartmouth College and later restoration were...
, Samuel Rolles Driver
Samuel Rolles Driver
Samuel Rolles Driver was an English divine and Hebrew scholar. He devoted his life to the study, both textual and critical, of the Old Testament. He was the father of Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver, also a distinguished Bible scholar.-Biography:Samuel Rolles Driver was born at Southampton...
and Charles Augustus Briggs
Charles Augustus Briggs
Charles Augustus Briggs , American Presbyterian scholar and theologian, was born in New York City, the son of Alanson Briggs and Sarah Mead Berrian...
, now well known as the Brown Driver Briggs
Brown Driver Briggs
The Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon is a standard reference for Biblical Hebrew. It is organized by alphabetical order of three letter roots. It is based on the Hebrew-German lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius, translated by Edward Robinson...
lexicon or BDB for short. It was published in 1906. With the Lexicon Manuale as a starting point, it drew heavily from the Hebräisches und Chaldäisches as well as Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (external link below) and Thesaurus (cited below). Since then, both the Tregelles Lexicon and the BDB and have been reissued with Strong's numbering system
Strong's Concordance
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a concordance of the King James Bible that was constructed under the direction of Dr. James Strong and first published in 1890. Dr. Strong was Professor of exegetical theology at Drew Theological Seminary at...
to aid in navigating their contents.
The Hebräische Grammatik, published in 1813 (28th edition by Emil Kautzsch; English translation by Arthur Ernest Cowley, 1910; 29th edition [incomplete] by Gotthelf Bergstrasser
Gotthelf Bergsträsser
Gotthelf Bergsträsser was a German linguist specializing in Semitic studies, usually considered to be one of the greatest of the twentieth century...
, 1918–29), was followed in 1815 by the Geschichte der hebräischen Sprache (now very rare), and in 1817 by the Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der hebräischen Sprache.
The first volume of his well-known commentary on Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
(Der Prophet Jesaia), with a translation, appeared in 1821; but the work was not completed until 1829. The Thesaurus philologico-criticus linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae Veteris Testamenti, begun in 1829, he did not live to complete; the latter part of the third volume is edited by Rödiger (1853). Other works include: De Pentateuchi Samaritana origine, indole, et auctoritate (1815), supplemented in 1822 and 1824 by the treatise De Samaritanorum theologia, and by an edition of Carmina Samaritana; Paläographische Studien über phönizische u. punische Schrift (1835), a pioneering work which he followed up in 1837 by his collection of Phoenician monuments (Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae monumenta quotquot supersunt); an Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
(1834–1839); and a treatise on the Himyarite language written in conjunction with Rödiger in 1841.
Gesenius also contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie
Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste
The Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste was a 19th-century German encyclopaedia published by Johann Samuel Ersch and Johann Gottfried Gruber, therefore also known as the "Ersch-Gruber." One of the most ambitious encyclopaedia projects ever, it remained uncompleted.It was designed...
, and enriched the German translation of Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt was a Swiss traveller and orientalist. He wrote his letters in French and signed Louis...
's Travels in Syria and the Holy Land with valuable geographical notes. For many years he also edited the Halle Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung. A sketch of his life was published anonymously in 1843 (Gesenius: eine Erinnerung für seine Freunde), and another by Hermann Gesenius, Wilhelm Gesenius, ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjährigen Geburtstag am 3. Februar 1886, in 1886.
External links
- written by Wilhelm Gesenius; 1910 edition, edited and enlarged by Emil Kautzsch; translated by Arthur Ernest Cowley; scanned and digitized public domain book- A Hebrew and English Lexicon (Brown-Driver-Briggs) in Wikisource - scanned English translation of Gesenius' Hebrew-German Lexicon
- Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament in Logos Bible SoftwareLogos Bible SoftwareLogos Bible Software is a Bellingham, Washington software company and electronic publisher specializing in Bible study. Their flagship product is Logos Bible Software 4, a bible study software application for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, iPhone/iPad and Android platforms...
format - The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon, a search tool based on the Brown-Driver-Briggs Gesenius