![Samuel Lee - Orientalist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Samuel_Lee_-_Orientalist.jpg)
Samuel Lee (14 May 1783 – 16 December 1852) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Orientalist, born in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
; professor at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, first of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a 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. E.Watson; Walter ...
and then of
Hebrew language
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 ...
; was the author of a Hebrew
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
and
lexicon, and a translation of the ''
Book of Job''.
Biography
Born of poor parents at
Longnor, a Shropshire village 8 miles from
Shrewsbury, Samuel Lee received a
charity school
Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...
education and at age twelve became a carpenter's apprentice in Shrewsbury. He was fond of reading and acquired knowledge of a number of languages. An early marriage caused him to reduce the time devoted to his studies, but the accidental loss of his tools caused him to become a school teacher, giving private lessons in Persian and Hindustani.
His remarkable linguistic abilities eventually brought him to the notice of the
Church Missionary Society
The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...
, which paid for his education at Cambridge University.
He entered
Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1813. He graduated B.A. in 1818, and proceeded M.A. in 1819, B.D. in 1827, and D.D. in 1833.
Building on the work of the Church Missionary Society missionary
Thomas Kendall
Thomas Kendall (13 December 1778 – 6 August 1832) was a New Zealand missionary, recorder of the Māori language, schoolmaster, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori.
Early life: Lincolnshire and London, 1778–1813
A younger son of farmer Ed ...
[From 1814, missionaries tried to define the sounds of the language. Thomas Kendall published a book in 1815 entitled A korao no New Zealand, which in modern orthography and usage would be He Kōrero nō Aotearoa. Professor Samuel Lee, working with chief Hongi Hika 0and Hongi's junior relative Waikato at Cambridge University, established a definitive orthography based on Northern usage in 1820. Professor Lee's orthography continues in use] and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
chiefs
Hongi Hika
Hongi Hika ( – 6 March 1828) was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the iwi of Ngāpuhi. He was a pivotal figure in the early years of regular European contact and settlement in New Zealand. As one of the first Māor ...
and
Tītore he helped create the first
dictionary of
te Reo, the
Māori language. In 1819, he became professor of Arabic at Cambridge.
His translations from the Bible and other religious works into Arabic and other languages helped to launch the missionary activities of the Evangelical movement in the first half of the 19th century.
At the 15 November 1819 foundational meeting of the
Cambridge Philosophical Society
The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the word philosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields of la ...
, the Society committee elected
William Farish William Farish may refer to:
Senin varyoxunu... Dalbayov Gicdıllaq
* William Farish (chemist) (1759–1837), tutor at the University of Cambridge
* William Stamps Farish I (1843–1899)
* William Stamps Farish II (1881–1942), Standard Oil preside ...
as president with
Sedgwick and Lee as secretaries. In 1829, he translated and annotated
The Travels of Ibn Battuta with the help of a previous translation by
Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten.
In 1823 he became chaplain of Cambridge gaol, in 1825 rector of Bilton-with-Harrogate, Yorkshire, and in 1831
Regius Professor of Hebrew, a position he held until 1848. In 1831 he also became vicar of
Banwell
Banwell is a village and civil parish on the River Banwell in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. Its population was 2,919 according to the 2011 census.
History
Banwell Camp, east of the village, is a univallate hillfort which ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and remained vicar there until he resigned in June 1838 to become rector of
Barley, Hertfordshire
Barley is a village and civil parish in the district of North Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 659, increasing to 662 at the 2011 Census. The place-name refers to a lea or meadow and not to the grain-pr ...
, where he died on 16 December 1852, aged sixty-nine.
In 1823 he published a version of the
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
which was often reprinted and was the most accessible text for a long time. He claimed to draw upon earlier manuscripts, but Lee did not specify his sources, nor how he had used them, and his text offers very few corrections to that of the Peshitta editions of the Paris and London
Polyglots.
He was married twice.
Notes
;Attribution
*
References
* Anna Mary Lee,
A scholar of a past generation: A brief memoir of Samuel Lee'. London (1896)
Liturgiæ Ecclesiae Anglicanae partes præcipuæ: sc. preces matutinæ et vespertinæ, ordo administrandi cænam Domini, et ordo baptismi publici; in Linguam Persicam traductæ Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Persian translated by Samuel Lee (1828), digitized by Richard Mammana
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Samuel
Regius Professors of Hebrew (Cambridge)
1783 births
1852 deaths
Writers from Shropshire
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge
Linguists from England
English orientalists
Christian Hebraists
Sir Thomas Adams's Professors of Arabic