Solomon Löwisohn (, ; 1788 or 1789 – 27 April 1821) was a Hungarian ''

Maskilic The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, grammarian, and linguist.

Biography

Solomon Löwisohn was born into a prominent

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in Moor, Weißenburg County. His father, himself a proficient Talmudist, taught the boy until he was fifteen years old. Since there was no Jewish school in the village, he sent him to Moor's Capuchin school to study German and arithmetic. The boy showed unusual talents; by the age of 13, he had already completely mastered the 24 books of the ''

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

occasional poetry Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work ...

. In 1809 he went to study at the

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

yeshivah A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The studyin ...

'' with his relative Moses Saphir, and between 1813 and 1815 studied

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 University of Prague. Löwisohn soon became closely associated with the ''

'' circle of Baruch and Judah Jeitteles. His first major work, a

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

on Hebrew grammar between David Kimḥi and Joel Brill entitled ''Siḥah be-ʻolam ha-neshamot'', was published in 1811. In 1814, he accepted the position of corrector at the printing establishment of

Anton Edler von Schmid Anton Edler von Schmid (23 January 1765 – 27 June 1855) was an Austrian printer and publisher of Hebrew books. Early life and education Anton Schmid was born in Zwettl, Lower Austria. His father, a cook at the Zwettl monastery, destined him fo ...

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. ...

, but gave up his post in 1820. He quickly became physically and mentally ill, and succumbed to his ailments in his hometown in April 1821, at the age of 32.

Work

Löwisohn's other works include ''Meḥkere erets,'' on the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

. Further, he translated and annotated the ''

Maḥzor The ''machzor'' (, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgrimage festivals ...

'', and part of the ritual for

Tisha B'Av Tisha B'Av ( ; , ) is an annual fast day in Judaism. A commemoration of a number of disasters in Jewish history, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusal ...

(1819). His most important works are ''Melitsat Yeshurun'' (1816), an analysis of the

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

of the Bible, and ''Vorlesungen über die neuere Geschichte der Juden'' (1820), of which the first volume only was published.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowisohn, Solomon 1780s births 1821 deaths Historians from the Austrian Empire 19th-century Hungarian Jews 19th-century Hungarian poets Jews from Austria-Hungary Grammarians of Hebrew Hebrew–German translators Hebrew-language poets Hebrew-language writers Hungarian male poets Jewish grammarians Jewish historians Jewish Hungarian writers Jewish linguists Jewish poets Jewish translators People from Mór People of the Haskalah