LEFMANN, Salomon. Telgte near Münster 25.12.1831 — Heidelberg 14.1.1912. German Indologist. Professor in Heidelberg. Son of a Jewish merchant and farmer, educated privately in Paderborn. After seminary in Münster worked as teacher of Jewish religion in Westfalen. At the same time studied at the universities of Münster, Heidelberg and Berlin, also in Paris and England. From 1866 PD and from 1870 eo. Professor at Heidelberg, 1901 honorary Professor, 1908 ord. hon. Professor, ibid. He was twice married: 1874 with Zilli Blach (1843–1899), two sons, and 1907 with Cilly Lefmann (b. 1880), two daughters.
Lefmann did not write much. He is mainly known of the first good Indian history in German and as the editor of the Lalitavistara.
Publications: Diss. De Aristotelis in hominum educatione principiis. 108 p. Berlin 1865.
– August Schleicher. Skizze. 104 p. Lp. 1870; Franz Bopp, sein Leben und seine Wissenschaft. 1-2. 7+381+284 p. Berlin 1891-97 (with a selection of letters).
– “Zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft der neuern Zeit”, Z. f. Völkerpsychol u. Sprachwiss. 7, 1871, 353-379.
– Translated: Lalita Vistara: Erzählung von dem Leben und der Lehre des Çākya Simla. 8+221 p. Berlin 1874, 2nd ed. 1908 (LV 1-5); edited: Lalita Vistara. 1-2. Halle 1902-08.
– “Zum Gâthâ-Dialect”, ZDMG 29, 1875, 212–234.
– Geschichte des Alten Indiens. 845 p. Berlin 1879–90, 2nd ed. 1898, Italian transl. 1900.
– Small articles on linguistics in KZ 19, 1870, 393-400; BB 10, 1886, 301-303; OC 13, Hamburg 1902 (1904), 3-8, and on Lalitavistara in ZDMG 63, 1909, 438–440.
Sources: A. De Gubernatis, Dict. des écrivains du jour 2, Flor. 1890; D. Drüll, Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1803–1932. 1986; Stache-Rosen 1990, 72; Fr. Wilhelm, N.D.B. 14, 198?; briefly in D.B.E. 6, 1997, 289; Wikipedia briefly with photo; photo in Rau 35.
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