Cecil James Mullo Weir (4 December 1897 – 4 March 1995) was a Scottish academic and theologian, who was

Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages The Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages is a position at the University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgo ...

at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1937 until 1968.

Life

Weir was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland on 4 December 1897. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, with his university studies at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

being interrupted by service with the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War between 1917 and 1919 in France, Belgium and in Germany. After the war, he returned to university and was awarded a first-class

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in classics 1923. He obtained a further first-class degree in

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 ...

in 1925. After obtaining a

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

degree in 1926 from Edinburgh, he moved to

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

, obtaining his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1930. As well as Edinburgh and Oxford, he also studied at the universities of

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He began his academic career teaching Hebrew at Edinburgh University. After a period as minister of Orwell in

Kinross-shire The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1975. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

between 1932 and 1934, Weir moved to the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

as Rankin Lecturer and head of the department of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages. He was also a lecturer in the Institute of Archaeology, Liverpool. In 1937, he was appointed

at the

, a post he held until 1968. He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Divinity from 1951 to 1954 and President of the Glasgow Archaeological Society from 1945 to 1948. He was awarded an honorary

Doctorate of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...

by the University of Edinburgh in 1959. He died on 4 March 1995.

Works

Weir's publications included ''A Lexicon of Accadian Prayers in the Rituals of Expiation'' (1934). He also contributed to works such as ''A Companion to the Bible'' (1939), ''Documents from Old Testament Times'' (1958) and ''Archæology and Old Testament Study'' (1967). He was also editor of the ''Transactions of Glasgow University Oriental Society'', ''Studia Semitica et Orientalia'' and the ''Transactions of Glasgow Archæological Society'', and wrote various articles and book reviews.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Cecil 1897 births 1995 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford University of Marburg alumni University of Paris alumni Leipzig University alumni Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Liverpool Academics of the University of Glasgow Scottish scholars and academics Scottish Christian theologians