William Wright (orientalist)

William Wright (17 January 1830 – 22 May 1889) was a famous British Orientalist, and Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge. Many of his works on Syriac literature are still in print and of considerable scholarly value, especially the catalogues of the holdings of the British Library and Cambridge University Library. "A Grammar of The Arabic Language", often simply known as "Wright's Grammar", continues to be a popular book with students of Arabic. [cite book|last=Wright|first=William|title=A Grammar of The Arabic Language|location=London|publisher=Simon Wallenberg|vol=two vols|isbn=1843560283] Wright is also remembered for the "Short history of Syriac literature".

Life

Wright was born at Mallye or Mallai, on the Nepal frontier in India. He early developed a fondness for oriental languages, and studied at the University of St Andrews, from which he graduated.

He also studied at Halle, where he devoted his main efforts to Syriac, but learned all the Semitic languages together with Sanskrit, and at Leiden.

He was professor of Arabic at University College London from 1855-56 and at Trinity College, Dublin from 1856-61 where he lectured on Hindustani.

For the opportunity of original work, he held a post in the department of manuscripts at the British Museum from 1861-70, and was professor of Arabic at Cambridge, 1870-89, where he also became a fellow.

As a member of the Old-Testament revision committee he had a field for the exercise of his extensive scholarship. His cooperative activity yielded such fruits as the oriental series of the Palaeographical Society, drawn up under his editorship, and he made contributions to the lexical works of Robert Payne Smith in Syriac, of Reinhart Dozy in Arabic, and of Adolf Neubauer in Hebrew.

He died at Cambridge, England.

Works

His early publications of Syriac material appeared in the "Journal of Sacred Literature" in the 1860's. These included the publication of the Syriac text of "An ancient Syrian martyrology" in the October 1865 issue. He also took part in the debates about the allegations by the forger Simonides that the "Codex Sinaiticus" discovered by Constantin von Tischendorf was in fact a fake.

He then went on to publish texts and translations of various works listed below. He also translated and edited Caspari's "Grammar of the Arabic Language" (2 vols., London, 1859-62); collected and edited "Opuscula Arabica" (Leyden, 1859)

His main achievement was to write a catalogue of the rich Syriac holdings of the British Museum (now in the British Library), mainly obtained in the 1840's from the monastery of Deir al'Syriani in the Nitrian desert in Egypt and containing a large number of previously unknown texts. This is still a valuable reference even today. He also compiled a similarly valuable catalogue of the Cambridge University Library collection, which had mainly come from Anglican Missionaries at Urmiah.

His "Short history of Syriac literature" was written originally as an encyclopedia article, and so has no proper sub-divisions. It was republished after his death in book form, and has remained a basic handbook for the student of Syriac. The material in it comes from various sources, but much of it from the Chronicum Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus, of which no English translation exists.

A bibliography of his work can be found by R. L. Benaly, in "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society", 1889, pp. 708 and following. There is also an entry in the "Dictionary of National Biography", vol.63. pp.138-139.

Publications

* A short history of Syriac literature. (1894)
* A Grammar of The Arabic Language.(London), Simon Wallenberg Press, Vol-1 & Vol-2 ISBN 1843560283
* Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in The British Museum acquired since the year 1838 (1870), 3 vols: [http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofsyria01brituoft vol. 1] , [http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofsyria02brituoft vol. 2] , [http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofsyria03brituoft vol. 3] .
* A Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge. By William Wright & Stanley Arthur Cook. (1901)
* Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles / edited from Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum and other libraries by William Wright. (1871). In 2 vols, Syriac and English.
* The book of Jonah in four semitic versions : Chaldee, Syriac, Aethiopic and Arabic. London, (1857).
* The book of Kalilah and Dimnah / translated from Arabic into Syriac (1884) Syriac only.
* The chronicle of Joshua the stylite : composed in Syriac A.D. 507. With a translation into English and notes by W. Wright. (1882)
* Contributions to the apocryphal literature of the New Testament / collected and edited from Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum, with an English translation and notes, by W. Wright. (1865)
* The departure of my Lady Mary from this world / edited from two Syriac MSS. in the British Museum, and translated by W. Wright. (1865) (Journal of sacred literature and Biblical record for January and April, 1865)
* Ecclesiastical history, in Syriac / edited from the manuscripts by William Wright and Norman McLean, with a collation of the ancient Armenian version by Adalbert Merx ; translated from the Greek by C.F.Crusé. (1898) Syriac text only.
* Fragments of the Turras mamlla nahraya or Syriac grammar / of Jacob of Edessa : edited from mss. in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library by W. Wright. (1871)
* Fragments of the Curetonian Gospels [in Syriac] / ed. by W. Wright. (1872)
* Epistolae Pilati et Herodis graece. (W. Wright's translation of the Syriac version.) Gr. & Eng. (1897)
* The homilies of Aphraates, the Persian sage / [by] Aphraates, the Persian sage. (1869) Syriac text only.
* S. Ignatius. Revised texts with introductions, notes, dissertations, and translations. Gr., Lat., Eng.-Syriac remains of S. Ignatius. (1885)
* Some apocryphal Psalms in Syriac. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, June 1887
* Fragments of the Homilies of Cyril of Alexandria on the Gospel of S. Luke (1874)
* Lectures on the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages (Cambridge, 1890)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc12/htm/ii.xxvi.xi.htm Biography from Schaff's Encyclopedia]