FUNDAMENTAL WORK IN SEMITIC PHILOLOGY

SCHULTENS, A.

Institutiones ad fundamenta linguae Hebraeae. Quibus via panditur ad ejusdem analogiam restituendam, et vindicandam in usum collegii domestici..

Lugduni Batavorum, Johannem Luzac, 1737.

4to. Uncut in a bit later half calf with gilt lettering to spine. "ex Bibliotheca Petri Hendrix [1784-1849] / 1921" to pasted down front end-paper. Headlines in neat contemporary hand to each leaf. Extremities with wear. Last 11 ff. with heavy damstain, otherwise internally nice and clean.  (36), 501, (86) pp.

First edition Schultens’ important work in which he fundamentally changed comparative Semitic philology. He stated that Hebrew is no longer could be regarded as the first language, from which the other Oriental languages diverged, but as one Semitic language among the others.
“Schultens emphasized with revolutionary exaggeration the extent of the change brought about by the new knowledge. Far from accepting the traditional view that Arabic (like other languages) was a degenerate form of Hebrew, Schultens maintained that Hebrew was only one Semitic dialect, while the purest and clearest such dialect was Arabic…But in spite of the high value accorded to Arabic by Schultens, his use of it was infelicitous and far from commendable even from the point of view of an Arabist. He nevertheless marked the beginning of an epoch which continued into the mid-20th century, in which one of the main forms of learned linguistic study was the use of cognate languages for the elucidation of difficulties in Hebrew” (Barr, “Literature,” 1395.)

Order-nr.: 62076