Rev Robert Young's grave, Grange Cemetery

Robert Young, LL.D. (10 September 1822 – 14 October 1888) was a Scottish publisher who was self-taught and proficient in various

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

languages. He published several works, the best known being a

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

translation, commonly referred to as ''

Young's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of ''Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' and ''Concise Critical Comments on the New Tes ...

'', and his

Bible concordance A Bible concordance is a concordance, or verbal index, to the Bible. A simple form lists Biblical words alphabetically, with indications to enable the inquirer to find the passages of the Bible where the words occur. Concordances may be for the o ...

, '' The Analytical Concordance to the Bible''.

Life

Robert Young was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, the son of John Young a book-binder on Parliament Square on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

. He served an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

and simultaneously taught himself various oriental languages. He eventually joined the

Free Church A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from ...

, and in 1847 he started his own business of printing and selling books, particularly of works related to

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

studies, with a shop at 5 North Bank Street off the

. For three years he was connected with

Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...

's Territorial church sabbath school in the

West Port, Edinburgh The West Port is a street in Edinburgh, Edinburgh's Old Town of Edinburgh, Old Town, Scotland, located just south of Edinburgh Castle. It runs from Main Point (the junction of Bread Street, Lauriston Street, East Fountainbridge and High Riggs) ...

. From 1856 to 1861 he was literary missionary and superintendent of the mission press at

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

; and during this time he added

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

to his acquirements. From 1864 to 1874 he conducted the ‘Missionary Institute;’ in 1867 he visited cities in the United States. In 1871 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Hebrew chair at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. Most of his life was passed in Edinburgh, where he died at home, 14 Grange Terrace, on 14 October 1888. He is buried in the north-east section of the

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

Family

He was married to Margaret Turnbull (1823-1887). They had three sons and four daughters.Inscription on Robert Young's grave, Grange Cemetery

Works

On starting business as a printer he published works intended to facilitate the study of the Old Testament and its versions, of which the first was an edition with translation of

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

's 613 precepts. His major works include: *'' The Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' for the King James Version *'' A Literal Translation of the Bible'', 1862, with a revision in 1887, and a posthumous revision in 1898 *'' Concise Critical Comments on the Holy Bible'', a companion to ''A Literal Translation of the Bible'' *'' Dictionary of Bible Words & Synonyms, or a Key to the Hidden Meanings of the Sacred Scripture'' *'' Grammatical analysis of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures. The Book of Psalms in Hebrew''

References

Notes

;Attribution *

External links

* * 1822 births 1888 deaths Publishers (people) from Edinburgh Scottish book publishers (people) 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish biblical scholars Scottish orientalists Scottish translators {{Scotland-bio-stub