Gustav Bickell (7 July 1838 – 15 January 1906) was a German orientalist. He was born in Kassel, and died in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. His father, Johann Wilhelm Bickell, was professor of

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at the University of Marburg, and died (1848) as minister of justice of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). In 1862 Gustav became Privatdozent of Semitic and Indo-Germanic languages at Marburg, but the following year he went in the same capacity to the University of Giessen. The finding of a clear testimony in favour of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

in the hymns of

Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian (; ), also known as Ephraem the Deacon, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ — ''Mâr Aphrêm Sûryâyâ)'' was a prominent Christian theology, Christian theologian and Christian literat ...

, which he was transcribing in London, led him to enter the

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, 5 Nov., 1865. After his conversion he entered the seminary of

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, where he was ordained priest on 22 September 1865. He then taught

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

at the Academy of Münster, and in 1871 was appointed extraordinary professor. At this period he became widely known by his vigorous defence of

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. In 1874 he went to the

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as professor of Christian archaeology and Semitic languages, which position he held until 1891, when he was called to the chair of Semitic languages at the

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Publications

He was an enthusiastic student and one of the foremost Semitic scholars of his times. Besides numerous contributions to different reviews he published the following works: * ''De indole ac ratione versionis Alexandrinæ in interpretando libri Jobi'' (Marburg, 1862) * ''S. Ephraemi Syri Carmina Nisibena'', with prolegomena fixing the laws of Syriac metre (Leipzig, 1866) * ''Grundriss der hebräischen Grammatik'' (ib., 1869–70), translated into English by Sam. I. Curtiss under the title ''Outlines of Hebrew Grammar'' (ib., 1877) * ''Gründe für die Unfehlbarkeit des Kirchenoberhauptes'' (Münster, 1870) * ''Conspectus rei Syrorum litterariæ'' (ib., 1871) * ''Messe und Pascha'' (Mainz, 1872), tr. W. F. Skene, ''The Lord's Supper and the Passover'' (Edinburgh, 1891) * ''Schriften und Gedichte syrischer Kirchenväter'' (vols. 71 and 72 of the ''Sammlung der Kirchenväter'' of Kempten) * ''S. Isaaci Antiocheni opera omnia'' (2 vols., Giessen, 1873–77) * ''Kalilag und Damnag'' (Leipzig, 1876), an edition and translation into German of the earliest extant translation (into Syriac) of the ''

Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' ( IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, , "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

'' * ''Metrices biblicae regulæ exemplis illustratae'' (Innsbruck, 1879) * ''Synodi brixinenses saec. quindecimi'' (ib., 1880) * ''Carmina V. T. metrice'' (ib., 1882) * ''Dichtungen de Hebraer'' (3 vols., ib., 1882–84) * ''Der Prediger (Koheleth) über den Wert des Dasiens'' (ib., 1886) * ''Das Buch Job'' (Vienna, 1894)

References

External links

* 1838 births 1906 deaths Syriacists German orientalists 19th-century German scholars German male non-fiction writers Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Panchatantra {{OrientalOrthodoxy-stub