Martin Haug (30 January 1827 – 3 June 1876) was a German orientalist.

Biography

Haug was born at Ostdorf (today a part of

Balingen Balingen (; Swabian: ''Balenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, capital of the district of Zollernalbkreis. It is located near the Swabian Jura, approx. 35 km to the south of Tübingen, 35 km northeast of Villingen-Schwenn ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. He became a pupil in the gymnasium at

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

at a comparatively late age, and in 1848 he entered the

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar. People First name * Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire * Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian *Eberhard I, ...

, where he studied oriental languages, especially

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

. He afterwards attended lectures at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, and in 1854 settled as

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

. In 1856 he moved to the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, where he assisted Bunsen in his literary undertakings. In 1859 he accepted an invitation 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 ...

, where he became superintendent of Sanskrit studies and professor of Sanskrit in

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. Here his acquaintance with the

Zend language Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

and literature afforded him excellent opportunities for extending his knowledge of this branch of literature. Having returned to Stuttgart in 1866, he was called to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

as professor of Sanskrit and

comparative philology Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

in 1868. It was Dr. Haug who originally outlined the structure of the popular Sanskrit introductory books by Bhandarkar which was used throughout India in the early 20th century. Haug died in

Bad Ragaz Bad Ragaz is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is the home of a famous natural spring and is a popular spa and health resort destination. History Bad Ragaz is fi ...

Works

The result of his researches in Poona was the volum
''Essays on the sacred language, writings and religion of the Parsees''
(Bombay, 1862), of which a new edition, by E. W. West, greatly enriched from the posthumous papers of the author, appeared in 1878. Haug published a number of other works of considerable importance to the student of the literatures of ancient

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. They include: * ''Die Pehlewisprache und der Bundehesch'' (1854) * ''Die Schrift und Sprache der zweiten Keilschriftgattung'' (1855) * ''Die fünf Gathas'', edited, translated and expounded (1858–1860) * an edition, with translation and explanation, of the ''Aitareya Brahnsana'' of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...

(Bombay, 1863), which is accounted his best work in the province of ancient Indian literature * ''A Lecture on an original Speech of

Zoroaster Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is ...

'' (1865) * ''An old Zend-Pahlavi Glossery'' (1867) * ''Über den Charakter der Pehlewisprache'' (1869) * ''Das 18. Kapitel des Wendidad'' (1869) * ''Über das Ardai-Virafnameh'' (1870) * '' An old Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary'' (1870) * ''Vedische Rätselfragen und Rätselsprüche'' (1875)

References

* This work in turn cites: ** Adalbert Bezzenberger, ''Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen'', vol. i., pp. 70 seq, which has the particulars of Haug's life and work. {{DEFAULTSORT:Haug, Martin 1827 births 1876 deaths People from Balingen People from the Kingdom of Württemberg German Indologists German orientalists German male non-fiction writers University of Bonn alumni University of Tübingen alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty