Yehoshua Blau, also spelled Joshua ( he, יהושע בלאו, vertical-align=sup; 22 September 1919 – 20 October 2020) was an Israeli scholar of Arabic language and literature, previously

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Life and career

Blau was born in

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

, Romania in September 1919. He moved to

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

with his family in 1938. He earned a master's degree in Hebrew, Arabic, and Biblical studies in 1942. He married Shulamit in 1945, and they had a son and daughter. His doctoral studies were interrupted by the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

, during which he served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

in an intelligence unit. He was awarded a PhD in 1950 for his dissertation, "The Grammar of Judeo-Arabic." Prior to his academic career, he taught at high schools and published several Hebrew grammars. He briefly taught at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

before taking an academic position at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he taught from 1957 to 1986. Even after his retirement, he remained a professor emeritus and informally guided graduate students into his late 90s. He was an active member of the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

since the 1950s and served as its president from 1981 to 1993. He continued to edit its journal until 1999. Blau was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in 1983. He published a number of books and articles on the Arabic and Hebrew languages, and the Semitic languages generally, in Hebrew and English (and occasionally in German). Blau was elected as a member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...

in 1968.

Selected works

*''A grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Porta linguarum Orientalium: Neue Serie 12)''. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz. (1976) *''On Pseudo-Corrections in Some Semitic Languages''. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. (1970) *''Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew (LSAWS 2)''. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. (2010)

References

External links

Joshua (Yehoshua) Blau home page
Hebrew University of Jerusalem * Ofra Tirosh-Becker
In Memoriam, Professor Joshua Blau z”l (1919–2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blau, Joshua 1919 births 2020 deaths Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Historical linguists Israeli centenarians Men centenarians Linguists from Israel Israeli Arabists Writers from Cluj-Napoca Romanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent 20th-century linguists 21st-century linguists Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Tel Aviv University faculty Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Grammarians of Hebrew Semiticists Place of death missing

Life and career

Selected works

See also

References

External links