Eugen Prym (15 December 1843 in

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...

– 6 May 1913 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

) was a German orientalist, who specialized in

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 ...

, especially

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

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 ...

. He was the brother of mathematician

Friedrich Prym Friedrich Emil Fritz Prym (28 September 1841, Düren – 15 December 1915, Bonn) was a German mathematician who introduced Prym varieties and Prym differentials. Prym completed his Ph.D. at the University of Berlin in 1863 with a thesis writt ...

(1841–1915), and is the great-great grandfather of historian, philosopher, and MacArthur Genius Grant winner,

Jacob Soll Jacob Soll (born 1968) is university professor and professor of philosophy, history and accounting at the University of Southern California. Soll's work examines the mechanics of politics, statecraft and economics by dissecting the various eleme ...

. He studied

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

and Oriental languages at the universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

, receiving his doctorate in 1868 with a thesis on the Islamic polymath

Ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...

. As a student, his influences included

Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (21 February 1801 – 10 February 1888) was a German oriental studies, Orientalist. Biography He was born at Schandau, Kingdom of Saxony, Saxony. From 1819 to 1824, he studied theology and Oriental languages at Univer ...

in Leipzig and

Johann Gildemeister Johann Gildemeister (20 July 1812 – 11 March 1890) was a German Orientalist born in Kröpelin. Biography He studied Oriental languages and theology at the Universities of Göttingen and Bonn and graduated from the latter institution in 1838. F ...

at the University of Bonn. From November 1868, with

Albert Socin Albert Socin (13 October 1844 in Basel – 24 June 1899 in Leipzig) was a Swiss orientalist, who specialized in the research of Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish and contemporary Arabic dialects. He also made contributions to the geography, archaeology, r ...

, he carried out linguistic research for one and a half years in the Middle East. Following his return to Bonn, he gave lectures in Semitic languages at the University, where in 1890 he attained a full professorship. In addition to Semitic languages, he also taught classes on

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

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 ...

Selected works

* ''Der neu-aramäische Dialekt des Tur Abdin'', 1881 – Neo-Aramaic dialect of

Tur Abdin Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...

. * ''Kurdische sammlungen'' (2 volumes 1887–90, with Albert Socin) –

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

collections. * ''Annales quos scripsit Abu Djafar Mohammed Ibn Djarir At-Tabari'', (multi-volume, 1879–1901); edition of

Al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

; with

Michael Jan de Goeje Michael Jan de Goeje (August 13, 1836 – May 17, 1909) was a Dutch orientalist focusing on Arabia and Islam. Early life Michael Jan de Goeje was born in Dronrijp, Friesland. He devoted himself at an early age to the study of oriental lan ...

and others. * ''Neuaramäische Märchen und andere Texte aus Malula in deutscher Übersetzung, hauptsächlich aus der Sammlung E. Prym's und A. Socin's'', 1915 (with Albert Socin, pub.

Gotthelf Bergsträsser Gotthelf Bergsträsser (5 April 1886, in Oberlosa, Plauen – 16 August 1933, near Berchtesgaden) was a German linguist specializing in Semitic studies, generally considered to be one of the greatest of the twentieth century. Bergsträsser wa ...

) – Western Neo-Aramaic tales and other texts from Ma'lula.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prym, Eugen 1843 births 1913 deaths People from Düren University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn German orientalists German Arabists