Solomon Caesar Malan

Solomon Caesar Malan (22 April 1812 – 25 November 1894) D.D., Vicar of Broadwindsor, Prebendary of Sarum, was a British divine, polyglot and well known orientalist whose fluency in language was legendary: English, French, Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Tibetan, Chinese, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, Geez.

Life

By birth a Genevan descended from an exiled French family, Malan was born in Geneva, where his father, Dr Henri Abraham César Malan (1787–1864) enjoyed a great reputation as a Protestant divine.

From his earliest youth he manifested a remarkable faculty for the study of languages, and when he came to Scotland as tutor in the marquis of Tweeddale's family at the age of 18 he had already made progress in Sanskrit, Arabic and Hebrew. In 1833 he matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford; and English being almost an unknown tongue to him, he petitioned the examiners to allow him to do his paper work of the examination in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin or Greek, rather than in English.

But his request was not granted. After gaining the Boden and the Pusey and Ellerton scholarships, he graduated 2nd class in ''Literae humaniores'' in 1837. He then proceeded to India as classical lecturer at Bishop's College, Calcutta, to which post he added the duties of secretary to the Bengal branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; and although compelled by illness to return in 1840, laid the foundation of a knowledge of Tibetan and Chinese.

After serving various curacies, he was presented in 1845 to the living of Broadwindsor, Dorset, which he held until 1886 During this entire period he continued to augment his linguistic knowledge; he was able to preach in Georgian, on a visit which he paid to Nineveh in 1872. His translations from the Armenian, Georgian and Coptic were numerous. He applied his Chinese learning to the determination of important points connected with Chinese religion, and published a vast number of parallel passages illustrative of the ''Book of Proverbs''.

In 1880 the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D.

No modern scholar, perhaps, has so nearly approached the linguistic omniscience of Mezzofanti; E. H. Blakeney, "The Greatest Linguist", ''The Observer'', 15 December 1929, p. 9. but, like Mezzofanti, Dr Malan was more of a linguist than a critic. He made himself conspicuous by the vehemence of his opposition to Westcott and Hort's text of the New Testament, and to the transliteration of Oriental languages, on neither of which points did he have the general support of scholars. His extensive and valuable library, some special collections excepted, was presented by him in his lifetime to the Indian Institute at Oxford. He died at Bournemouth. His life has been written by his son.

Drawings of an excavation in Nineveh by S. C. Malan (1850)

File:S. C. Malan. Lion. Nimroud.jpg, Lion. Nimroud
File:At Kooyoonjik.jpg, At Kuyunjik
File:Excavtions at Kooyoonjik.jpg, Excavtions at Kuyunjik
File:Mr. Layard at Kooyoonjik.jpg, Austen Henry Layard at Kuyunjik

Works

* The Book of Adam and Eve, also called The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, a Book of the early Eastern Church, translated from the Ethiopic (''Gadla Adan wa Hewan'') with notes from the Kufale, Talmud, Midrashim, and other Eastern works, 1882.
* A Plea for the Received Greek Text and the Authorised Version of the New Testament
* The Conflict of the Holy Apostles, an apocryphal book of the early Eastern Church translated from and Ethiopic Ms.
* The Epistle of S. Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy, translated from an Ethiopic Ms.
* The Rest of Assumption of S. John the Evangelist, translated from the Armenian.
* The Life and times of S. Gregory the Illuminator, founder of the Armenian Church.
* On the Corean version of the Gospels, original documents of the Coptic Church.
* Original notes on the Book of Proverbs mostly from eastern writings.
* Seven Chapters from S. Matthew I-VI to S. Luke XI of 1881, revised.
* A short history of the Georgian Church.

See also

*List of polyglots

References

*
*
*

External links

*
The Conflict of Adam and Eve
' (1882)
*
The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles
' (1871)

Further reading

Malan, Arthur Noel. 1897.
Solomon Caesar Malan, D.D. : memorials of his life and writings
'. London : John Murray. in OCLC Worldca

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malan, Solomon Caesar
1812 births
1894 deaths
Clergy from Geneva
British orientalists
Kartvelian studies scholars
Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford