BENMOHEL, Nathan Lazarus. Hamburg 26.5.1803 — Dun Laoghaire (or rather Sandycove nearby), county Dublin 22.12.1869. German Jew, Language Teacher in Ireland. Son of Rabbi Elieza Lazi (Eliezer Lazarus Benmohel, 1788–1839/41). From 1829 resided in Dublin and from 1832 studied languages at Trinity College, i.al. learned Hindūstānī. B.A. 1836, M.A. 1846. He was the first conforming Jew obtaining a degree in a British university.In 1839-42 taught German and French, perhaps also Hebrew, at Trinity College, later career unclear, except for literary activity. Said to be lax and unorthodox in his Judaism. Apparently unmarried.
Publications: Araeeshee Maḥfil or Assemblage of Ornament. Ten Sections of a Description of India, being the most interesting portion of J. Shakespear’s Muntakhabāt-i-Hindī. Translated from the Hindoostanee and accompanied with Notes, explanatory and grammatical. 18+49 p. Dublin 1847 (Arāish-e Maḥfil).
– “Prospectus of a new etymological glossary, chiefly of the English language”, Proc. of Royal Irish Acad. 5, 1851, 8 p.; “Etymological criticism”, Proc. of Royal Irish Acad. 5, 1850-53, 75-81
– Epea Pteroenta: Conveying Revelations of the Past. 42+139 p. Dublin 1860 (on ancient and medieval ethnography).
– Wrote on Jewish and Biblical matters.
Sources: jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3003-benmohel-nathan-lazarus; more in *Oxford D.N.B.; C.J. Woods, D.I.B. 1, 449.
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