Alexander Hamilton (linguist)
Alexander Hamilton (1762–1824) was a British linguist who was one of the first Europeans to study the Sanskrit language.[1] He taught the language to most of the earliest European scholars of Indo-European linguistics. He became the first professor of Sanskrit in Europe.
In India
Hamilton seems to have been born in India, but Scotland is not impossible. He was a first cousin of his namesake, American statesman
In France
After the death of Jones in India, Wilkins and Hamilton were the only Europeans who had studied Sanskrit. Both returned to Europe around 1797.
After war broke out between Britain and France in 1803 Hamilton was interned as an enemy alien, but was released to carry on his researches at the insistence of the French scholar
In 1806 he was appointed at
In 1813,[
Death
Hamilton died at Liscard on 30 December 1824, aged 62.[8]
Works
Hamilton published:[6]
- The Hitopadesa in the Sanscrit Language, London, 1811;
- Terms of Sanscrit Grammar, London, 1815; and
- A Key to the Chronology of the Hindus, 1820.
He also wrote magazine articles on ancient Indian geography. The catalogue was translated, annotated, and published by Louis-Mathieu Langlès in the Magasin Encyclopédique, 1807.[6]
References
- ^ a b T. K. John, "Research and Studies by Western Missionaries and Scholars in Sanskrit Language and Literature," in the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Vol. III, Ollur [Trichur] 2010 Ed. George Menachery, pp. 79–83
- ^ Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, Penguin, 2004, pg. 527
- ^ a b c d History of Linguistics. History of Linguistics. Vol. IV, pg. 67. Nineteenth-Century Linguistics by Giulio Lepschy, by Anna Morpurgo Davies
- ^ Hermione de Almeida, George H. Gilpin, Indian Renaissance: British romantic art and the prospect of India, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005, pg. 60.
- ^ Behler, E. (1966) Friedrich Schlegel, pg. 94
- ^ a b c Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^ Rosane Rocher, Alexander Hamilton, 1762–1824; a chapter in the early history of Sanskrit philology, American Oriental Society (1968).
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12044. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Hamilton, Alexander (1762–1824)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.