Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort (c. 1715–1761) was a Dutch Hebrew professor, responsible for translating an Indian version of the Hebrew New Testament and a Hebrew Quran.
Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1715 |
| Died | 1761 (aged 45–46) |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
| Occupation | Professor of Hebrew Language |
| Known for | Hebrew Quran of the Library of Congress, rabbinical Hebrew New Testament from Cochin |
Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort was born Jewish between 1714 and 1717 in Dordrecht, Netherlands.[1][2] He converted to Catholicism in December 1745 in Aachen.[1] He studied briefly philosophy at the University of Leipzig with professor Johann Friedrich May in 1753.[1] In 1754[1] he was enlisted by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to work as a professor of Hebrew Language at the Seminary of Colombo, Ceylon.[1][3] In 1756 he traveled to Cochin,[1] India, where he was commissioned by Ezekiel Rahabi to finish the translation of the Hebrew New Testament (1741-1756),[4] which Claudius Buchanan took with him to England and currently resides in the Cambridge University Library. Ezekiel Rahabi also commissioned van Dort as the translator of the Hebrew Quran (1757-1761),[4][5] which resides in the Library of Congress in Washington.[6] Van Dort is further known for his 1757 translations of the excerpts of the chronicles of the Jews of Cochin.[3][7]
Van Dort died in 1761, at the age of 46.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g van Dort, Mascha (June 2021). Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort, a learned Jewish-Christian man from Dordrecht. Mascha van Dort. ISBN 978-9464028386.
- ^ Campbell, Fiona Kumari (2007). "A Historical Appraisal of Jewish Presence in Sri Lanka". Griffith Law and the School of Human Services, Griffith University.
- ^ a b Fischel, Walter J. (July–September 1967). "Journal of the American Oriental Society". The Exploration of the Jewish Antiquities of Cochin on the Malabar Coast. 87 (3). American Oriental Society: 230–248. doi:10.2307/597717. JSTOR 597717.
- ^ a b van Dort, Mascha; Bar-Ilan, Meir (2021). "Commissioner, purpose, translators, copyist and age of the Hebrew New Testament of Cochin and the Quran of the Library of Congress".
- ^ Weinstein, Myron M. (1972). "Studies in Bibliography and Booklore". A Hebrew Quran Manuscript. 10 (1/2). Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion: 19–52. JSTOR 27943437.
- ^ "LC Hebr. Ms 183" (PDF). Library of Congress.
- ^ Eichorn, J. E. (1788). Allegemeine Biblothek der Biblischen Literatur. Vol. 1. Lepzig. p. 929.