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__NOTOC__ Wolf Leslau ( yi, וולף לסלאו; born November 14, 1906 in
Krzepice Krzepice (german: Krippitz) is a Polish town near Częstochowa, in Kłobuck County, Silesian Voivodeship, in northwestern corner of Lesser Poland. It is located near the historic border of Lesser Poland and Silesia, which goes along the Liswart ...
,
Vistula Land Vistula Land, Vistula Country (russian: Привислинский край, ''Privislinsky krai''; pl, Kraj Nadwiślański) was the name applied to the lands of Congress Poland from 1867, following the defeats of the November Uprising (1830–3 ...
, Poland; died November 18, 2006 in
Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...
) was a scholar of
Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...
s and one of the foremost authorities on Semitic languages of
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
.


Youth and education

Leslau was born in
Krzepice Krzepice (german: Krippitz) is a Polish town near Częstochowa, in Kłobuck County, Silesian Voivodeship, in northwestern corner of Lesser Poland. It is located near the historic border of Lesser Poland and Silesia, which goes along the Liswart ...
, a small town near
Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. When he was a child his family was very poor, and after contracting
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
he usually had to keep a thermometer with him to monitor his body temperature, although the reasons for this are unknown. He was orphaned by the age of 10, and was raised by his brother, and received a
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
education. To avoid military service in the Polish army, he gave up his Polish citizenship (becoming a
stateless person Stateless may refer to: Society * Anarchism, a political philosophy opposed to the institution of the state * Stateless communism, which Karl Marx predicted would be the final phase of communism * Stateless nation, a group of people without ...
) and emigrated to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, where he would engage in
Semitic studies Semitic studies, or Semitology, is the academic field dedicated to the studies of Semitic languages and literatures and the history of the Semitic-speaking peoples. A person may be called a ''Semiticist'' or a ''Semitist'', both terms being equi ...
at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
until 1931. He then went to the
Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
to study under
Marcel Cohen Marcel Samuel Raphaël Cohen (February 6, 1884 – November 5, 1974) was a French linguist. He was an important scholar of Semitic languages and especially of Ethiopian languages. He studied the French language and contributed much to general lingui ...
. His studies included most of the
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
, including
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 ...
,
Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
,
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
, Soqotri and Ethiopic.


War years

Leslau was arrested by the French police and sent to an internment camp in the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
where he spent the harsh winter of 1939-1940 with his wife and child. He was later moved to
Camp des Milles The Camp des Milles was a French internment camp, opened in September 1939, in a former tile factory near the village of Les Milles, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône).Guénaël LemoueeCamp des Milles : la mémoire de la ...
, a
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
near
Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
. However, with the assistance of an international aid group, he escaped with his family before the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
took over the camp in 1942. Escaping to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, he later became a
naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
. He settled in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and received a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
to continue his studies of the Semitic languages in
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. He traveled throughout the country, recording endangered Ethiopian languages. For one language, Gafat, Leslau was able to locate only four speakers. It became extinct shortly thereafter.


Career in the United States and fieldwork

After teaching at the
Asia Institute The Asia Institute (1928–1979) was an American organization in support of research and interest in Persian art and archaeology; and starting in 1964 it was funded by the Pahlavi-era Iran. Two remnants from the Asia Institute are the ''Bulletin ...
, the
New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
, and for 4 years at
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
, he joined the faculty of
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
in 1955. He was instrumental in establishing the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Center for Near East Studies.


Ethiopia

Leslau specialized in previously unrecorded and unstudied
Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
of Ethiopia. His first trip to Ethiopia in 1946 was funded by a
Guggenheim fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
.


South Arabia and Yemen

In 1950, Leslau traveled to South Arabia and Yemen. There he made field recordings at gatherings of South Arabian Bedouins and
Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. Between June 1949 and September 1950, the ...
. In 1951, the recordings were issued by
Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...
as ''Music of South Arabia'' in their "ethnic" series, FE-4221. The recordings, as well as Leslau's liner notes, are available for download from
Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fou ...
.


Recognitions and retirement

In 1965 Leslau received the
Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
Prize for Ethiopian Studies in
Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
from Ethiopian Emperor
Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
. He held the position of Professor Emeritus at UCLA until his death at the age of 100. He remained active in research and writing until his death. He learned to use a
Macintosh computer The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
at the age of 80. Leslau died at a nursing home in
Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...
, in 2006.


Partial bibliography

* 1938: ''Lexique Soqotri (sudarabique moderne) avec comparaisons et explications étymologiques''. Paris: Klincksieck. * 1941: ''Documents tigrigna: grammaire et textes''. Paris: Libraire C. Klincksieck. * 1945: ''Short Grammar of Tigré''. Publications of the American Oriental Society, Offprint Series, No. 18. New Haven. * 1945:
Gafat Documents: Records of a South-Ethiopic language
'. American Oriental series, no. 28. New Haven. * 1950: ''Ethiopic Documents: Gurage''. New York: Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, no. 14. * 1951: ''Falasha Anthology''. Yale Judaica Series, vol. 6. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. () * 1956: ''Étude descriptive et comparative du Gafat (éthiopien méridional)''. Paris: Klincksieck, xx + 277 p. * 1958: ''Ethiopic and South Arabic contributions to the Hebrew lexicon''. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 76 p. * 1958: ''The verb in Harari''. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, x + 86 p. * 1965: ''An Amharic Conversation Book''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 1965: ''Ethiopians speak. Studies in cultural background''. Part 1: Harari. Near Eastern Studies, no. 7. Berkeley: University of California Press. * 1965: ''An annotated bibliography of the Semitic languages of Ethiopia. The Hague: Mouton. * 1966: ''Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background''. Part 2: Chaha. University of California Publication. Near Eastern Studies, no. 9, 219 p. * 1967: ''Amharic Textbook''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 1968: ''Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background''. Part 3: Soddo. University of California Publications. Near Eastern Studies, vol. 11. * 1969: ''Hebrew Cognates in Amharic''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 1973: ''English-Amharic Context Dictionary''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, xviii + 1503 p. () * 1976: ''Concise Amharic Dictionary''. (Reissue edition: 1996) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. () * 1979: ''Etymological Dictionary of Gurage (Ethiopic)''. 3 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. () * 1981: ''Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background''. Part 4: Muher. Äthiopistische Forschungen, no. 11. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. () * 1982: ''Gurage Folklore: Proverbs, beliefs, and riddles''. Studien zur Kulturkunde, no. 63. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. () * 1983: ''Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background''. Part 5: Chaha and Ennemor. Äthiopistische Forschungen, no. 16. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. * 1987: ''Comparative dictionary of Ge‛ez (Classical Ethiopic) : Gǝ‛ǝz-English/English-Gǝ‛ǝz with an index of the Semitic roots''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, xlix + 813 p. * 1988: ''Fifty Years of Research: Selection of articles on Semitic, Ethiopian Semitic and Cushitic''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, xlv + 503 p. () * 1989: ''Concise dictionary of Gǝ‛ǝz (Classical Ethiopic)''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 247 p. * 1990: ''Arabic Loanwords in Ethiopian Semitic''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 1992: ''Gurage Studies : Collected Articles''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, xxix + 744 p. () * 1995: ''Reference Grammar of Amharic''. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. () * 1997: ''Ethiopic Documents: Argobba. Grammar and dictionary''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 1999: ''Zway Ethiopic Documents''. Äthiopistische Forschungen, no. 51. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 2000: ''Introductory Grammar of Amharic''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, xix + 232 p. () * 2001: (with Thomas L. Kane) ''Amharic Cultural Reader''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. () * 2004: ''The Verb in Mäsqan as Compared with other Gurage Dialects''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ()


Festschriften

* Segert, Stanislav & András J. E. Bodrogligeti (eds.), ''Ethiopian Studies: Dedicated to Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday, November 14, 1981 by friends and colleagues''. Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz Harrassowitz Verlag is a German academic publishing house, based in Wiesbaden. It publishes about 250 scholarly books and periodicals per year on Oriental, Slavic, and Book and Library Studies. The publishing house is part of the company Otto Ha ...
1983, xii + 582 p. (). * Kaye, Alan S. (ed.), ''Semitic studies in honor of Wolf Leslau on the occasion of his 85th birthday, November 14, 1991''. 2 Vols. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz 1991, lxviii. + 1719 p. (). * Hudson, Grover (ed.), ''Essays on Gurage Language and Culture: Dedicated to Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday, November 14, 1996''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1996, 239 p. ().


References


External links

* * *


Relevant literature

* Devens, Monica S., "On the Occasion of Wolf Leslau's 100th Birthday", in: ''Aethiopica'' 9 (2006), pp. 220–221. * Müller, Walter W., "Zum Gedenken an Wolf Leslau", in: ''Aethiopica'' 10 (2007), pp. 210–218. * Fikre Tolossa. Wolf Leslau (1906-2006). 2007. International Journal of Ethiopian Studies 3.1: 121-123. * Kaye, Alan S. "Wolf Leslau." ''Language'' 83, no. 4 (2007): 870-875. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leslau, Wolf 1906 births 2006 deaths People from Kłobuck County Jewish social scientists Linguists from Poland Linguists from Austria Linguists from the United States Men centenarians Polish centenarians Semiticists Ethiopianists Polish Africanists American Africanists University of Paris alumni Polish Orthodox Jews Polish emigrants to the United States American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century linguists