[German Version]

(Feb 3, 1786, Nordhausen – Oct 23, 1842, Halle). After studies at Helmstedt and Göttingen, ¶ Gesenius was appointed professor at Halle in 1810; his lectures on the OT drew as many as 500 people. As compiler of the first corpus of Phoenician inscriptions, he was the father of Northwest Semitic epigraphy (I); he also pioneered the field of Samaritan studies and deciphered Old South Arabic. Averse to all philosophico-linguistic speculation, the young Gesenius refined the treatment of verbs and nouns in Hebrew grammar, achieved lastin…