Of his many works, the earliest, published in 1810, entitled _Versuch über die maltesische Sprache_, was a successful refutation of the widely current opinion that the modern Maltese 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, e.g. that of H. Zimmern and F. Buhl (1905). The publication of a new English edition was started in 1892 under the editorship of Professors C. A. Briggs, S. R. Driver and F. Brown. _The Hebräische Grammatik_, published in 1813 (27th edition by E. Kautzsch; English translation from 25th and 26th German editions by G. W. Collins and A. E. Cowley, 1898), 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 Jesaja_), with a translation, appeared in 1821; but the work was not completed until 1829. The _Thesaurus philologico-criticus linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae V. T._, begun in 1829, he did not live to complete; the latter part of the third volume is edited by E. Rödiger (1858). Other works: _De Pentateuchi Samaritani 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 Himyaritic language written in conjunction with E. Rödiger in 1841. Gesenius also contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopädie_, and enriched the German translation of J. L. 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 H. _Gesenius, Wilhelm Gesenius, ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjährigen Geburtstag_, in 1886. See also the article in the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_.
Wellness Review
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 8 — Part 185
Tags