Pius Zingerle (17 March 1801 – 10 January 1881) was an Austrian Orientalist.

Life

Zingerle was born at

Meran Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. After studying the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

at Meran,

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and two years of

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, he joined the

Benedictines , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Marienberg Marienberg is a town in Germany. It was the district capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis (Central Ore Mountains district) in the southern part of Saxony, and since August 2008 it has been part of the new district of Erzgebirgskreis. As of ...

in 1820, took vows, 20 October 1822, and was ordained priest, 4 April 1824. With the exception of six years (1824-7 and 1837-9) during which he was assistant pastor at Platt and at St. Martin, two parishes in the Valley of Passeier, he was professor, since 1852 also director at the gymnasium of Meran. Upon the invitation of

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

, he became professor of Oriental languages at the

Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

in Rome in March, 1862. While in Rome he was also consultor of the Propaganda for Oriental Affairs and scriptor of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

. Unable to accustom himself to the Roman climate, he returned to Marienberg in 1865, where he was made sub-prior and professor of theology. He had a fair knowledge 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 ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, was an acknowledged master of

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 ...

, and gained considerable fame through his German versions of the writings of

Saint Ephraem Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...

. Zingerle died at the Abbey of Marienberg near Meran, 10 January 1881.

Works

The following are his chief works: "Echte Akten heiliger Märtyrer des Morgenlandes", translated from the Syriac (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1836); "Ausgewählte Schriften des heiligen Ephräm", translated from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and the Syriac (6 vols., Innsbruck, 1837; new ed., Augsburg, 1845-of which vols. IV and V are German martial versions of Ephraem's Syriac hymns, "Ephräm's Reden wider die Ketzer", in vol. XXVIII of "Sämtliche Werke der heil. Väter" (Kempten, 1859); "Harfenklänge vom Libanon" (Innsbruck, 1840); "Festkränze aus Libanon's Gärten" (Dillingen, 1846); "Marien-Rosen aus Damaskus" (Innsbruck, 1853; 2nd ed., Augsburg, 1955); "Leben und Wirken des heil. Simeon Stylites" (Innsbruck, 1855); "Monumenta Syriaca ex romanis codd. collecta" (Innsbruck, 1869); "Chrestomathia Syriaca cum indice vocabularum" (Rome, 1871); "Lexicon Syriacum in usum Chrestomathiae" (Rome, 1873). He contributed various essays on the Ephraemic metre and on the Syrian metre in general to "Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft", vols. II-XIX, and other Syrian studies to "Tübinger Theologische Quartalschrift" in the years 1853 and 1870-71. He is also the author of two volumes of German poems (vol. I, Innsbruck, 1843; vol. II, Mainz, 1860) and of a few ascetical and other works of minor importance.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zingerle, Pius Syriacists 19th-century Austrian Roman Catholic theologians 19th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Austrian translators 1801 births 1881 deaths Austrian Benedictines Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 19th-century translators People from Merano