Hamaker, Heinrich Arens

Hamaker, Heinrich Arens a Dutch Orientalist, was born at Amsterdam Feb. 25, 1789; became professor of Oriental languages in the Academy of Franeker in 1815, assistant professor in 1817, and in 1822 professor ordinarius of the same in the University of Leyden, where he died Oct. 10, 1835. He was a man of great erudition, and was regarded as one of the first Oriental scholars of Holland. His works are not free from marks of negligence, due probably to hasty composition and the great variety of subjects treated. Among them may be named Oratio de religione Muhammedica, mnagno virtutis bellicae. apud orientalis incitamento (Leyd. 181718, 4to): Specimen Catalogi Codicum MSS. Orientalium Bibliotheca Academice Lugduno- Batavae (Leyden, 1820, 4to; with valuable notes from Oriental MSS. — a new ed. by Dozy [Leyd. 1848-52, 2 vols. 8vo] contains bibliographical notes left in MS. by Hamaker): — Incerti Auctoris Liber de Expugnatione Memphidis et Alexandriae, etc. (Leyden, 1825, 4to): — Miscellanea Phoenicia (Leyden, 1828): — Commenentatio in libro de Vita et Morte Prophetarum, etc. (Amst. 1833, 4to): — Miscellinea Samaritana, a posthumous work edited by Weyers. He published also various papers in Annalen of the universities of Göttingen (1816-17) and Leyden (1823-24); in the Bibliotheca Nova of Leyden, Magazin voor Wetenschappen of Van der Kampen, and in the Journal Asiafique of Paris. Others have been posthumously published in the Orientalia (Leyden), vol. 1 and 2. — Pierer, s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 23, 209; De Sacy, in Jour. des Savants, 1820, 1827, 1829, 1834. (J.W. M.)