Benfey Theodore

Benfey Theodore a German Orientalist, was born of Jewish parentage, Jan. 28, 1809, at Norten, near Gottingen. He was educated at the gymnasium at Gottin gen; studied in the universities of Gottingen and Munich; and was appointed professor at Gottingen in 1834, where he worked and lectured till his death, June 26, 1881. "In Theodore Benfey," says a writer in the London Times," we have lost the greatest Sanscrit scholar of our time; and, if one looks at his works and at the permanent results which they represent, one feels tempted to ask, Has there ever been any single scholar in Europe who, since the discovery of Sanscrit, has more advanced our knowledge of the language and literature of ancient India than Benfe?" His earliest work was the Griechisches Wurzel-lexicon (1839-42), and the elaborate article on "India" in Ersch und Gruber's Encyclopidie. After that, Benfey was one of the first to contribute to the revival of Sanscrit philology which began with the study of the Veda. In 1848 he published his text, translation, and glossary of the Samaveda, and he also gave a complete translation of the first volume of the Rig-Veda. His grammars on the Sanscrit are wellknown. In. 1859 he published his Pantschatantra, or Fiinf Biicher indischer Fabeln, Mdrchen, etc. (Leipsic, 2 vols.); in which he established on a safe basis, to the surprise of the world, not only the Indian origin of European fables, but, what.was even more important, the Buddhist origin of Indian fables. We also mention, Die persischen Keilinschriffen mit Uebersetzung und (Glossar (Leipsic, 1847): — Ueber das Verhiltniss der dgyptischen Sprache zun Semitischen Sprachstamm (ibid. 1844): — History of the Science of Language and Oriental Philology in Germany (Munich, 1869). He also edited Orient und Occident insbesondere in.ihren gegenseitigen Beziehungen (Gottingen, 1860-65). His contributions to the Transactions of the Royal Gottingen Society and to the Journal of Comparative Philology are very numerous, and contain very valuable materials for the student of comparative philology. Benfey was a member of the academies at Munich, Berlin, Buda, and Gottingen, and was highly honored and esteemed by all who knew him. (B. P.)