Gustav Bickell (7 July 1838 – 15 January 1906) was a German orientalist. He was born in Kassel, and died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. His father, Johann Wilhelm Bickell, was professor of

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

, and died (1848) as minister of justice of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...

(or Hesse-Cassel). In 1862 Gustav became Privatdozent of Semitic and Indo-Germanic languages at Marburg, but the following year he went in the same capacity to the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von ...

. The finding of a clear testimony in favour of the

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in the hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, which he was transcribing in London, led him to enter the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, 5 Nov., 1865. After his conversion he entered the seminary of Fulda, where he was ordained priest on 22 September 1865. He then taught Oriental languages at the Academy of Münster, and in 1871 was appointed extraordinary professor. At this period he became widely known by his vigorous defence of

papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apos ...

. In 1874 he went to the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

as professor of Christian archaeology and Semitic languages, which position he held until 1891, when he was called to the chair of Semitic languages at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

Publications

He was an enthusiastic student and one of the foremost Semitic scholars of his times. Besides numerous contributions to different reviews he published the following works: * ''De indole ac ratione versionis Alexandrinæ in interpretando libri Jobi'' (Marburg, 1862) * ''S. Ephraemi Syri Carmina Nisibena'', with prolegomena fixing the laws of Syriac metre (Leipzig, 1866) * ''Grundriss der hebräischen Grammatik'' (ib., 1869–70), translated into English by Sam. I. Curtiss under the title ''Outlines of Hebrew Grammar'' (ib., 1877) * ''Gründe für die Unfehlbarkeit des Kirchenoberhauptes'' (Münster, 1870) * ''Conspectus rei Syrorum litterariæ'' (ib., 1871) * ''Messe und Pascha'' (Mainz, 1872), tr. W. F. Skene, ''The Lord's Supper and the Passover'' (Edinburgh, 1891) * ''Schriften und Gedichte syrischer Kirchenväter'' (vols. 71 and 72 of the ''Sammlung der Kirchenväter'' of Kempten) * ''S. Isaaci Antiocheni opera omnia'' (2 vols., Giessen, 1873–77) * ''Kalilag und Damnag'' (Leipzig, 1876), an edition and translation into German of the earliest extant translation (into

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

) of the '' Panchatantra'' * ''Metrices biblicae regulæ exemplis illustratae'' (Innsbruck, 1879) * ''Synodi brixinenses saec. quindecimi'' (ib., 1880) * ''Carmina V. T. metrice'' (ib., 1882) * ''Dichtungen de Hebraer'' (3 vols., ib., 1882–84) * ''Der Prediger (Koheleth) über den Wert des Dasiens'' (ib., 1886) * ''Das Buch Job'' (Vienna, 1894)

References

External links

* 1838 births 1906 deaths Syriacists German orientalists German scholars German male non-fiction writers Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities {{OrientalOrthodoxy-stub