SPEYER, Jacob Samuel (Speijer). Amsterdam 20.12.1849 — Leiden 1.11.1913. Dutch Indologist. Professor in Amsterdam, Groningen and Leiden. Born in a Jewish family, son of the elder J. S. Speyer and Elizabet Calisch. Educated in Amsterdam, studied three years classics at Athenaeum there, then Sanskrit at Leiden (under Kern). Ph.D. 1872 Leiden.…
SPENCER, Harold. 1876 — 1966. Rev. British Wesleyan Missionary in India. B.A. In 1909 and still in the 1930s in Mysore. Principal of Wesleyan Hardwicke College there for more than 20 years. Publications: A Kanarese Grammar with Graduated Exercises. Mysore 8+330 p. Mysore 1914, 2nd ed. rev. by W. Perston.…
SPENCER, Arthur Marshman. Calcutta 19.9.1886 — Calcutta 14.4.1943. British Wesleyan Missionary in Bengal. Son of William Marshman Spencer (1856–1935) and Elizabeth Tasker Williams (1857–1949). Educated at Kingwood School and Headingly College, Leeds. In 1911-32 worked in Sarenga (dt. Bankura, Bengal), then in Calcutta. Married 1915 Beatrice Mary Day (b. 1888),…
SPECHT, Franz. Rosslau an der Elbe, Anhalt 1.11.1888 — Mainz 13.11.1949. German IE Scholar. Professor in Halle, Breslau, Berlin and Mainz. Son of an industrialist, the elder Franz Specht. Gymnasium in Dessau. Studies of Classics, Germanistics and IE in 1909-13 at Berlin and Leipzig (under Windisch, Leskien, Brugmann, Schulze). Participated…
SPECHT, Edouard Prosper Emmanuel. Paris 26.2.1843 — Paris 2.3.1906. French Sinologist. Student of Pauthier and St. Julien. From 1892 until death taught Chinese at É.P.H.É., Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. As a Sinologist he concentrated on works dealing with India or translated from Sanskrit. He was one of those…
SOWA, Rudolf von. Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now L’viv, Ukraine) 30.1.1853 — Brünn (Brno in Czech) 29.9.1900. Austrian (of Poland) Schoolteacher, Linguist and Romani Scholar. Son of the elder Rudolf von Sowa and Rosa Sowowá (née Arnoldová). Gymnasium in Brünn (Brno), from 1870 studies at Vienna, 1874-75 at Innsbruck and then…
SOOTHILL, William Edward. Halifax, Yorkshire 23.1.1861 — Oxford 13.5.1935. Rev. British Missionary in China, then Sinologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of William Soothill (1836–1893), a textile worker. As youngster worked in a solicitor’s office in Halifax. Interrupted his studies at London University deciding to become a missionary. Ordained priest 1882.…
SONNERAT, Pierre. Lyon 18.8.1748 — Paris 31.3.1814. French Naval Officer, Naturalist and Traveller in the East. Travels: 1768-71 Madagascar and neighbouring islands, 1772-74 Moluccas and Philippines, 1774-81 India and China. Correspondent of the French Academy. Details of his life, especially of early years, are defective. In his first travel he…
SONNE, Wilhelm Günther Heinrich. Ilfeld am Harz 22.2.1820 — Wismar 3.5.1873. German IE Scholar. Schoolteacher in Wismar. Son of Heinrich Daniel Andreas Sonne (1780–1832) a teacher and Director of Ilfeld Gymnasium, himself educated at Göttingen Gymnasium 1831-32 and Hannover Lyceum (with G. F. Grotefend as Director). From 1839 studies of…
SOMMER, Johann Ferdinand. Trier 4.5.1875 — Munich 3.4.1962. German classical,IE and Hittite Scholar. Professor in Jena and Munich. Son of Philipp Sommer (1845–1911), a Rechnungsrat, and Johanna Saur. Educated in Trier and Kassel, from 1893 studies at Marburg and Freiburg (Thurneysen). Ph.D. 1896 Freiburg (diss. on Celtology). Further studies at…