Acoluthus, Andreas

Acoluthus, Andreas, one of the most famous Orientalists of his age, was born at Bernstadt, March 16, 1654. After due preparation at the Elizabeth Gymnasium in Breslau, he was instructed in the Rabbinic, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Persian, and Ethiopic languages by A. Pfeiffer. With these he combined the study of Mauretanian, Turkish, Coptic, Armenian, and even the Chinese language. In 1674 he went to Wittenberg, and thence to Leipsic, where he lectured on Oriental languages. Having secured an Armenian Bible, he edited the prophet Obadiah in Armenian, with observations, in 1680. This was the first Armenian publication printed in Germany. In 1682 he published De Aquis Zelotypice Amaris Numbers 5, 11 sq. In the following year he returned to Breslau, where he was induced to accept an office in the Church. In 1689 he was appointed professor of Hebrew at then (Gymnasium of St. Elizabeth, and in the following year he was called as senior of St. Bernhardin's. His Oriental studies he continued, and the possession of an Arabic manuscript of the Koran with a Persian and Turkish version induced him to make the Koran known in Germany by publishing this triglot manuscript with a Latin translation, since the Arabic edition of the Koran which had been published at Venice in 1530 had been burned by command of the pope. King Frederick of Prussia favored his undertaking, and allowed him an annual pension. Acoluthus died at Breslau, Nov. 4, 1704. — His Specimen Acorani Quadrilinguis, for which he was made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, was published in 1701. See Schmid, Leichen-Predigt auf M. Aidreas Acoluthus nebst angefiigtem n Lebenslauf (Breslau); Mart. Hankii Monumenta pie Defunctis olinm Erecta (ed. G. Hankio, 1718); Schimmelpfennig, in Allgemeine deutsche Biographic, s.v. (B. P.)