Editing Albert Schultens

{{Short description|Dutch philologist}}
[[File:Albert-Schultens.jpg|thumb|Albert Schultens]]
'''Albert Schultens''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈɑlbərt ˈsxʏltəns|lang}}; 1686 – 26 January 1750)<ref name="EB1911"/> was a Dutch [[philologist]].

==Biography==
He was born at [[Groningen (city)|Groningen]], where he studied for the church.{{which|date=January 2020}} He went on to the [[University of Leiden]], applying himself specially to [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and the cognate tongues. His thesis ''Dissertatio theologico-philologica de utilitate linguae Arabicae in interpretenda sacra lingua'' ("The Use of Arabic in the Interpretation of Scripture") appeared in 1706.<ref name=DI>[https://books.google.com/books?id=OMlT-FViF40C&pg=PA794 Hebrew Bible / Old Testament: The History of Its Interpretation 2:]  edited by Magne Saebo, Magne Sæbø</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yAsEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA480 Google Books] The New Werner Twentieth Century Edition of the Encyclopaedia ..., Volume 21</ref> After a visit to [[Reland]] in [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]], he returned to Groningen (1708); then, having taken his degree in [[theology]] (1709), he returned to Leiden, and devoted himself to the study of the manuscript collections there until 1711, when he became pastor at Wassenaer.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Schultens|volume=24|page=382}}</ref>

He disdained parochial work and decided to accept the Hebrew chair at [[Franeker]] in 1713. He held this position until 1729, when he was transferred to Leiden as rector of the ''collegium theologicum'', or seminary for poor students. From 1732 until his death (at [[Leiden]]) he was professor of [[Oriental languages]] at Leiden.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Schultens was the chief teacher of the [[Arabic language]] in the whole of the [[Europe]] during his lifetime. In some sense, he revived Arabic studies. He differed from [[Johann Jakob Reiske|J. J. Reiske]] and [[Silvestre de Sacy]] in regarding Arabic as a handmaid to Hebrew.<ref name="EB1911"/> Reiske considered Schultens' treatment of Arabic to be of little value, also maintaining that Arabic studies should not be taught as part of theology, but as a subject matter in its own right, as was [[mathematics]], [[physics]], [[geography]] and [[medicine]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cGwfZM9I-QAC&pg=PA188 History of Linguistics 2002: Selected Papers from the Ninth International...] edited by Eduardo R. J. Guimaraes, Diana Luz Pessoa De Barros</ref> Schultens vindicated the value of comparative study of the Semitic tongues against those who, like [[Jacques Gousset]], regarded Hebrew as a sacred tongue with which comparative philology has nothing to do.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=DI/>

His principal works were ''Institutiones ad Fundumenta Linguæ Hebraicæ'' (1737), ''Origines Hebraeae'' (2 vols., 1724, 1738), a second edition of which, with the ''De defectibus linguae Hebraeae'' (1731), appeared in 1761; ''Job'' (1737); ''Proverbs'' (1748); ''Vetus et regia via hebraezandi'' (1738); and ''Monumenta vetustiora Arabum'' (1740). He left unfinished ''Institutiones Aramææ'' (1745–49).<ref name="EB1911"/>

== References ==
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Schultens, Albert|year=1905}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schultens, Albert}}
[[Category:1686 births]]
[[Category:1750 deaths]]
[[Category:Dutch Arabists]]
[[Category:Dutch orientalists]]
[[Category:Dutch philologists]]
[[Category:17th-century philologists]]
[[Category:Linguists from the Netherlands]]
[[Category:People from Groningen (city)]]
[[Category:Leiden University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Franeker]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Leiden University]]