Julius Heinrich Petermann (born August 12, 1801 in

Glauchau Glauchau (; hsb, Hłuchow) is a town in the German federal state of Saxony, on the right bank of the Mulde, 7 miles north of Zwickau and 17 miles west of Chemnitz by rail ( its train station is on the Dresden–Werdau line). It is part of the ...

; died June 10, 1876 in

Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a wor ...

) was a German Orientalist.Hartmut Bobzin (2001) "Petermann, Julius Heinrich", ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' Vol.20 p.238
(German)

Biography

In 1829, Petermann received his PhD in Berlin for a dissertation on the

Targum Jonathan Targum Jonathan (), otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan, is the official eastern (Babylonian) targum (Aramaic translation) to the Nevi'im ("prophets"). It is not to be confused with "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan", an Aramaic translation of ...

of the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

. Between 1830 and 1837, he was first a lecturer, then from 1837 an associate professor of Oriental philology at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. Between 1852 and 1855,

Johann Gottfried Wetzstein Dr. Johann Gottfried Wetzstein (19 February 1815 – 18 January 1905) was an Orientalist and a Prussian diplomat. He was the Prussian consul in Damascus, Syria, Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite a ...

, the German consul in Damascus, and the Prussian king sponsored his travel to Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia. From 1868 to 1869, he was consul in Jerusalem. He learned

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

from the

Mekhitarist , image = , image_size = , caption = , abbreviation = C.A.M. , nickname = Mechitarists , established = , founder = Abbot Mekhitar of Sebaste, C.A.M. , foundin ...

Father Eduard on the island of San Lazzaro, which is part of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. In his ''Grammatica Linguae Armeniacae'' he offers proof that Armenian is an

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

. In 1851, he wrote about the

Armenian culture The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the people. Creative arts Literature Literature began in Armenia around 401 A.D. The majority of the literary ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and in 1866 about their

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. Petermann was interested in religious minorities such as the

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. ...

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking Endogamy, endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran ...

Parsees Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim co ...

and Ahl-i Haqq. Information on these groups is found in his two-volume travelogue ''Journeys in the Orient''. His research on the Samaritans and the Mandaeans was pioneering. He learned the Samaritan pronunciation from a Samaritan priest of Hebrew tradition in

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

. He began his writings on these ethnic groups with a critical edition of the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Torah ( Samaritan Hebrew: , ''Tōrāʾ''), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans. It dates back to one of the ancient version ...

, which comprised the first two volumes. Volumes 3 to 5 were released by

Karl Vollers Karl Vollers (March 19, 1857, Hooksiel (Oldenburg) – January 5, 1909) was a German orientalist. Vollers went to school in Hildesheim and Jever where he received his high-school degree ''Abitur'' in 1875. Vollers studied Protestant theology a ...

. Petermann published the first edition and Latin translation of two Mandaean writings, the ''

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...

'' and ''Sidra Rabba'' respectively, ("The Treasure", "The Great Directory") in his ''Thesaurus sive liber magnus''. He obtained a total of two collections of oriental manuscripts from 1532 for the Royal Library in Berlin. In 1840, he founded a series of concise textbooks, ''Porta linguarum Orientalium'', on oriental languages, each with an anthology. In this series he published books on Arabic,

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

, Armenian, Hebrew and Samaritan. Petermann was a member of the Berlin

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

, ''Friedrich Wilhelm zur gekrönten Gerechtigkeit''.

Works

* '' Grammatica linguae armenicae '' (1837 ) Berlin * '' De Ostikanis, Arabicis Armeniae gubernatoribus '', Berlin 1840 * ''Contributions to a history of the latest reforms of the Ottoman Empire'', German and Turkish (with Ramiz Efendi), Berlin 1842 * '' Epistola ad Philemonem speciminis loco ad fidem versionum Orientalium veterum '', Berlin 1844 * '' Pater Ignatii Patris Apostolici quae feruntur Epistolae '', Leipzig 1849 * ''

Pistis Sophia ''Pistis Sophia'' ( grc-koi, Πίστις Σοφία) is a Gnostic text discovered in 1773, possibly written between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The existing manuscript, which some scholars place in the late 4th century, relates one Gnostic g ...

: opus gnosticum'' (1851) * ''Contributions to the history of the Crusades from Armenian sources'', Berlin 1860 * ''Journeys in the Orient'', 1st edition. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1860 and 1861 * ''Journeys in the Orient'', 2nd edition. Leipzig, 1865 * ''Thesaurus sive liber magnus liber vulgo Adami appellatus'', 2 parts, Leipzig, 1867 (

and Latin) * ''Attempt at a Hebraic morphology based on the Speech of Present-day Samaritans'' 1868 * ''Pentateuchus Samaritanus'', 5 vols. Berlin, 1872–91. (

Samaritan alphabet The Samaritan script is used by the Samaritans for religious writings, including the Samaritan Pentateuch, writings in Samaritan Hebrew, and for commentaries and translations in Samaritan Aramaic and occasionally Arabic. Samaritan is a direc ...

) * ''Porta linguarum Orientalium'' (Editor) Vol. 1–4, 6, Berlin ** ''Brevis linguae hebraicae'' 1864 ** ''Brevis linguae arabicae'' 1867 ** ''Brevis linguae armenicae'' 1872 ** ''Brevis linguae chaldaicae'' 1872

References

External links

Works by Julius Heinrich Petermann
at the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Petermann, Julius Heinrich German Freemasons German orientalists 1801 births 1876 deaths German male non-fiction writers Armenian studies scholars Scholars of Mandaeism Translators from Mandaic