Alexander Murray
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FSA (Scot)
The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland.
The usua ...
(1775 – 15 April 1813) was a Scottish
minister
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
,
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and professor of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
at
Edinburgh University (1812).
Life
Murray was born on 22 October 1775, at Dunkitterick,
Kirkcudbrightshire, where his father, Robert Murray, was a shepherd and farm labourer. His first language was
Galwegian Gaelic.
Up until 1792, he had had little more than a year at school, but was self-taught in languages, and had worked as a tutor as well as a shepherd. He translated Arnold Drackenburg's German lectures on Roman authors, and when he visited
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
with his version in 1794, after unsuccessfully offering it to two separate publishers, he met
Robert Burns, who gave him advice.
The father of
Robert Heron lent Murray books, and James M'Harg, a literary pedlar from Edinburgh, proposed that Murray should visit the university authorities. His parish minister, J. G. Maitland of Minnigaff, gave him an introductory letter to Principal
George Husband Baird
George Husband Baird FRSE FSAScot (13 July 1761 – 14 January 1840) was a Scottish minister, educational reformer, linguist and the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1793 to 1840. In 1800 he served as Moderator of the Church of Sc ...
, which led to an examination. Admitted to
Edinburgh University as a deserving student, Murray won his way in class and by private teaching. Completing the course, he became a licentiate of the church of Scotland.
Murray early formed the acquaintance of
John Leyden
John Caspar Leyden, M.D., (8 September 1775 – 28 August 1811) was a Scottish indologist.
Biography
Leyden was born at Denholm on the River Teviot, not far from Hawick. His father, a shepherd, had contrived to send him to Edinburgh University ...
, and among his friends were
Robert Anderson,
Henry Brougham,
Francis Jeffrey,
Thomas Brown, and
Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet
* Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor
* Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...
. In 1806, Murray was appointed assistant to James Murehead parish minister of
Urr, Kirkcudbrightshire, whom he succeeded on his death in 1808.
In 1811 Murray translated, with approbation, a letter for
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, brought home by
Henry Salt the Abyssinian envoy. It was from the
Tigray Region
The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is ...
, where
Tigrinya is spoken.
On 13 August 1811, Murray wrote to the publisher
Archibald Constable
Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer.
Life
Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie.
In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Pe ...
that he had mastered the
Lappish tongue. In July 1812, after a sharp contest involving some bitterness of feeling, Murray was appointed professor of oriental languages in
Edinburgh University, with support from Salt and Constable. He received from the university on 17 July the degree of doctor of divinity.
Murray entered on his work at the end of October 1812, publishing ''Outlines of Oriental Philology'' (1812), for the use of his students. He lectured through the winter, against his strength, attracting both students and literary men to his room. His health completely gave way in the spring, and he died of
consumption in Edinburgh, 15 April 1813.
He is buried in
Greyfriars Kirkyard in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, immediately north of the church.
Murray's Monument, an eighty-foot stone
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
to his memory, was erected near his birthplace in 1835, and it received an inscription in 1877. It is north of the A712 road between
Newton Stewart and
New Galloway, in the
Galloway Forest Park.
Artistic recognition
His portrait by
Andrew Geddes, formerly in the possession of
Archibald Constable
Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer.
Life
Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie.
In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Pe ...
, went to the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
Works
Through Leyden, Murray became a contributor to the ''
Scots Magazine
''The Scots Magazine'' is a magazine containing articles on subjects of Scottish interest. It claims to be the oldest magazine in the world still in publication, although there have been several gaps in its publication history. It has reported on ...
,'' and he edited the seven numbers of that periodical from February 1802, inserting verses of his own under the signatures "B",' "X", or "Z". For three successive numbers he wrote a biography of
James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Europ ...
traveller, which he later expanded into a volume (1808). Constable the publisher then engaged him in September 1802 to prepare a new edition of Bruce's ''Travels''. At the same period (1802-5) Murray worked for the ''
Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
''
Murray's early promise then faded, but he was an influential editor and biographer. His major work, the ''History of the European Languages, or Researches into the Affinities of the Teutonic, Greek, Celtic, Slavonic, and Indian Nations,'' was edited by
David Scot, and published, with a detailed ''Life'', by
Sir Henry Wellwood Moncreiff, in 2 vols., 1823.
To the ''
Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
'' of 1803 Murray contributed a review of
Charles Vallancey
General Charles Vallancey FRS (6 April 1731 – 8 August 1812) was a British military surveyor sent to Ireland. He remained there and became an authority on Irish antiquities. Some of his theories would be rejected today, but his drawings, fo ...
's ''Prospectus of an Irish Dictionary;'' to the number for January 1804 he furnished an article on
James Stanier Clarke
James Stanier Clarke (1766–1834) was an English cleric, naval author and man of letters. He became librarian in 1799 to George, Prince of Wales (later Prince Regent, then George IV).
Early life
The eldest son of Edward Clarke and Anne Grenfi ...
's ''Progress of Maritime Discovery;'' and in January 1805 he discussed
Thomas Maurice
Thomas Maurice (1754 – 30 March 1824) was a British oriental scholar and historian. The son of a schoolmaster, Maurice was educated at the Wesleyan seminary at Bristol before entering University College, Oxford in 1774, aged 19 (B.A. 1778, M. ...
's ''History of Hindostan.'' His ''Letters to Charles Stuart, M.D.,'' appeared in 1813. He figures as a lyrist on his "Native Vale" in
Malcolm McLachlan Harper's ''Bards of Galloway.''
Family
Murray married, 9 December 1808, Henrietta Affleck, daughter of a parishioner. At his death he left her a widow, with a son and daughter.; she survived about twelve years, supported by a government pension of £80, which had been granted to her in return for Murray's translation of the Abyssinian letter. The daughter died of consumption in 1821, and the son, who was practically adopted by Archibald Constable, qualified for a ship surgeon, and was drowned on his first voyage.
References
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Alexander
1775 births
1813 deaths
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish linguists
Scottish philologists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard
Scottish antiquarians
People from Dumfries and Galloway
19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
Scottish magazine editors
Historians of Europe
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Christian Hebraists