Johann Wilhelm Max Julius Bang Kaup, (born August 9, 1869, in Wesel, died October 8, 1934, in Darmstadt) (also Willi Bang or Willy Bang or Willy Bang-Kaup) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

turkologist Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative conte ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and orientalist.

Biography

Willy Bang Kaup was born to Heinrich Bang and Auguste Bang. Heinrich was a lawyer by profession and was the Mayor. Willy Kaup was inducted to

orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

during his early days. This facts have become evident by H. L. Fleischer during their communications via letters at a later point of time. Bang Kaup did study

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

, and

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

with

Charles de Harlez Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

. In 1893 and 1909 he brought out a new edition of ancient Persian inscriptions together with Friedrich H. Weissbach and wrote several articles on the subject. Both of them also wrote notes on the inscriptions which later became helpful in comprehending the writings. From 1893 Bang started to carry out researches in ancient Turkish stone inscriptions, the

runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

, which had been deciphered by

Vilhelm Thomsen Vilhelm Ludwig Peter Thomsen (25 January 1842 – 12 May 1927) was a Danish linguist and Turkologist. He successfully deciphered the Orkhon inscriptions which were discovered during the expedition of Nikolai Yadrintsev in 1889. Early life and ed ...

using the methods of language comparison with modern Turkic languages and dialects. With Josef Markwart, Bang Kaup achieved a breakthrough in the chronological classification of the inscriptions. From 1910 to 1914, Bang worked on the Codex Cumanicus. Then he returned to the studies of old Turkish manuscripts from Turfan. During 1895 to 1914, Bang worked as a professor of English in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

and wrote several important studies on English literature. When the First World War broke out, Bang left Belgium and in 1917 became professor of Turkish Studies in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 1918 he was appointed professor 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 ...

where he continued the researches about the Turfan manuscripts, especially

Manichaean Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...

and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

texts. With

Annemarie von Gabain Annemarie von Gabain (7 April 1901—15 January 1993) was a German scholar who dealt with Turkic studies, both as a linguist and as an art historian. Early life and education Gabain was born in Morhange on 7 April 1901. Her father, Arthur von Ga ...

, he published annotated editions of Turfan texts as well as a glossary on the vocabulary of these texts. Bang elaborated the classical issues in the historical grammar of the Turkic languages in his several writings (“Vom Köktürkischen zum Osmanischen,” “Monographien zur türkischen Sprachgeschichte”).

Selected works

* ''Materials for the education of the older English drama''. * ''Manichean lay confession mirror''. * ''Manichean hymns''. * ''Fragments of a Nestorian George Passion''. * ''Turkish Turfan Texts'' Vol. 1–6, 1929–1934. * Analytical index. 1931. * ''From Turkish to Ottoman''. * ''Monographs on the history of the Turkish language''. * ''Parentalia: Basics of a History of Anxiety''. As Ms. gedr., Uystpruyst, Loewen 1908 digitized

Bibliography

* Hans Heinrich Schaeder : ''On W. Bang's sixtieth birthday''. In: ''Hungarian Yearbooks'' 9, 1929, pp. 181–187. * Henri de Vocht: ''Bibliography of the work of Professor W. Bang Kaup''. In: ''Hungarian Yearbooks'' 9, 1929, pp. 188–195. * Annemarie von Gabain : ''W. Bang Kaup 1869–1934''. In: ''Hungarian Yearbooks'' 14, 1934, pp. 335–340 and p. 140. * Annemarie von Gabain: ''Bang-Kaup, Johann Wilhelm Max Julius.'' In: ''New German Biography'' (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, , p. 576 (digitized version). * Annemarie von Gabain: ''Personal memories of W. Bang Kaup''. In: ''Language, History and Culture of the Altaic Peoples''. Berlin 1974, pp. 51–55. * Andrej Nikolaevič Kononov: ''W. Bang-Kaup. For the hundredth birthday''. In: ''Language, History and Culture of the Altaic Peoples''. Berlin 1974, pp. 47–49. * Sajora Khassankhanova: ''On the history of Berlin Turkology in the first half of the 20th century. The development of the old Turkish Turfan texts. W. Bang-Kaup and his linguistic school''. Unpublished dissertation. Berlin (GDR) 1979. * Peter Zieme: ''Bang Kaup, Johann Wilhelm Max Julius''. In: ''Encyclopædia Iranica .'' Vol. 3, 1989, pp. 691–692 * Michael Knüppel, Aloïs van Tongerloo: ''The orientalist republic of scholars on the eve of the First World War. The correspondence between Willi Bang (-Kaup) and Friedrich Carl Andreas from the years 1889 to 1914'' (= ''treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen'' NF 20). Berlin 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaup, Willy Bang 1869 births 1934 deaths Linguists Turkologists Orientalists