Solomon Caesar Malan (22 April 1812 – 25 November 1894) D.D., Vicar of Broadwindsor, Prebendary of Sarum, was a British
divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
,
polyglot and well known
orientalist whose fluency in language was legendary: English, French, Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, Tibetan, Chinese, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, Geez.
Life
By birth a
Genevan
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ...
descended from an
exiled French family, Malan was born in
Geneva, where his father, Dr
Henri Abraham César Malan (1787–1864) enjoyed a great reputation as a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
divine.
From his earliest youth he manifested a remarkable faculty for the study of languages, and when he came to Scotland as tutor in the
marquis of Tweeddale's family at the age of 18 he had already made progress in
Sanskrit,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and
Hebrew. In 1833 he matriculated at
St Edmund Hall, Oxford; and English being almost an unknown tongue to him, he petitioned the examiners to allow him to do his paper work of the examination in French, German, Spanish, Italian,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
or
Greek, rather than in English.
But his request was not granted. After gaining the Boden and the Pusey and Ellerton scholarships, he graduated 2nd class in ''Literae humaniores'' in 1837. He then proceeded to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
as classical lecturer at
Bishop's College, Calcutta, to which post he added the duties of secretary to the Bengal branch of the Royal Asiatic Society; and although compelled by illness to return in 1840, laid the foundation of a knowledge of
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken diale ...
and Chinese.
After serving various curacies, he was presented in 1845 to the living of
Broadwindsor, Dorset, which he held until 1886 During this entire period he continued to augment his linguistic knowledge; he was able to preach in
Georgian, on a visit which he paid to
Nineveh in 1872. His translations from the
Armenian, Georgian and
Coptic were numerous. He applied his Chinese learning to the determination of important points connected with Chinese religion, and published a vast number of parallel passages illustrative of the ''
Book of Proverbs''.
In 1880 the
University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D.
No modern scholar, perhaps, has so nearly approached the linguistic omniscience of
Mezzofanti;
[ E. H. Blakeney, "The Greatest Linguist", '' The Observer'', 15 December 1929, p. 9.] but, like Mezzofanti, Dr Malan was more of a linguist than a critic. He made himself conspicuous by the vehemence of his opposition to
Westcott and
Hort Hort may refer to:
People
* Erik Hort (born 1987), American soccer player
* F. J. A. Hort (1828–1892), Irish theologian
* Greta Hort (1903–1967), Danish-born literature professor
* Josiah Hort (c. 1674–1751), English clergyman of the ...
's text of the New Testament, and to the transliteration of Oriental languages, on neither of which points did he have the general support of scholars. His extensive and valuable library, some special collections excepted, was presented by him in his lifetime to the Indian Institute at Oxford. He died at
Bournemouth. His life has been written by his son.
Drawings of an excavation in Nineveh by S. C. Malan (1850)
File:S. C. Malan. Lion. Nimroud.jpg, Lion. Nimroud
File:At Kooyoonjik.jpg, At Kuyunjik
File:Excavtions at Kooyoonjik.jpg, Excavtions at Kuyunjik
File:Mr. Layard at Kooyoonjik.jpg, Austen Henry Layard
Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 18175 July 1894) was an English Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in It ...
at Kuyunjik
Works
* The Book of Adam and Eve, also called The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, a Book of the early Eastern Church, translated from the Ethiopic (''Gadla Adan wa Hewan'') with notes from the Kufale, Talmud, Midrashim, and other Eastern works, 1882.
* A Plea for the Received Greek Text and the Authorised Version of the New Testament
* The Conflict of the Holy Apostles, an apocryphal book of the early Eastern Church translated from and Ethiopic Ms.
* The Epistle of S. Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy, translated from an Ethiopic Ms.
* The Rest of Assumption of S. John the Evangelist, translated from the Armenian.
* The Life and times of S. Gregory the Illuminator, founder of the Armenian Church.
* On the Corean version of the Gospels, original documents of the Coptic Church.
* Original notes on the Book of Proverbs mostly from eastern writings.
* Seven Chapters from S. Matthew I-VI to S. Luke XI of 1881, revised.
* A short history of the Georgian Church.
See also
*
List of polyglots
This is a list of notable people with a knowledge of six or more languages.
Deceased
Antiquity and Middle Ages
* Mithridates VI (135–63 BC), King of Pontus. According to Pliny the Elder, Mithridates could speak the languages of all of the twe ...
References
*
*
*
External links
*
The Conflict of Adam and Eve' (1882)
*
The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles' (1871)
Further reading
Malan, Arthur Noel. 1897.
Solomon Caesar Malan, D.D. : memorials of his life and writings'. London : John Murray. in OCLC Worldca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malan, Solomon Caesar
1812 births
1894 deaths
Clergy from Geneva
British orientalists
Kartvelian studies scholars
Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford