LEWIS, James (pseudonym Charles Masson). Aldermanbury (London) 16.2.1800 — Edmonton, Middlesex 5.11.1853. British pioneer of Archæology in Afghanistan. Son of oil dealer George Lewis and Mary Hopcraft, apparently had a good education. Served in E. I. Company’s army, from 1821 in Bengal Artillery, soon after participation in the siege of…
LEWIS, Frederick. 1836? — 1930?. Britishman in Sri Lanka. Among stray sources in Internet, one claims he was born in Manchester 1836 and went to Ceylon after 1861, another (www.shakariconnection.com/ceylon-hunting-books.html) that he was born there of English parents and became a tea and rubber planter. Once he is called Assistant…
LÉVI, Sylvain. Paris 28.3.1863 — Paris 30.10.1935. French Indologist. Professor in Paris. Son of Louis-Philippe L., a Jewish cloth merchant, and Pauline Bloch, the family came from Alsace. After Lycée Charlemagne studies in Paris, first Greek, but soon (from 1882) Indology under Bergaigne et al. From 1885 taught himself Sanskrit…
LEUMANN, Manu. Strassburg 6.10.1889 — Zürich 15.7.1977. Swiss Indo-Iranian Linguist and Classical Philologist. Son of —> Ernst Leumann (1859–1931) and Gertrud Siegemund. Matriculated from Protestant Gymnasium in Strassburg, studies at Strassburg, Göttingen and Berlin under F. C. Andreas, W. Schulze, Wackernagel, Wilamowitz-Möllendorf et al. Ph.D. 1914 Strassburg (under Thumb). Served…
LEUMANN, Julius. Berg, Canton Thurgau 1.9.1867 — Frauenfeld, Canton Thurgau 14.8.1945. Swiss Schoolteacher and Linguist interested in Sanskrit. Son of Konrad Leumann, a Swiss country priest, and Maria Schelling, brother of —> Ernst L. Gymnasium in Frauenfeld. Studies at Geneva (Oltramare), Zürich (Schweizer-Sidler), Leipzig (Windisch, Leskien, Curtius) and finally at Strassburg…
LEUMANN, Ernst. Berg, Canton Thurgau 11.4.1859 — Freiburg i.B. 24.4.1931. Swiss Indologist and Pioneer of Khotan Saka Studies in Germany. German citizen 1884. Professor in Strassburg and Freiburg. Son of Konrad Leumann, a Swiss country priest, and Maria Schelling, brother of —> Julius L. At Frauenfeld Cantonal School in 1877-78…
LETHBRIDGE, Roper. Plymouth 23.12.1840 — Okehampton or Exbourne, Devon 15.2.1919. Sir. British Civil Servant in India. Son of Ebenezer L. and Caroline Elizabeth Cridland, educated at Plymouth and Mannamead College. Studies at Exeter College in Oxford. In 1868-76 served in Bengal Educational Department and in 1877-80 as Press Commissioner in Political…
LESSING, Ferdinand Dietrich. Essen-Altenessen 26.2.1882 — Berkeley 31.12.1961. German Sinologist and Central Asian Scholar in the U.S.A. U.S. citizen 1946. Professor in Berkeley. Gymnasium in Lingen, matriculated in 1902. Studies of Chinese and Russian in Berlin (diplom 1905), guided by F. W. K. Müller. From 1907 on spent 17 years…
LESNÝ, Vincenc. Komárovice (Moravia) 3.4.1882 — Prague 9.4.1953. Czech Indologist. Professor in Prague. Born in a poor family, son of Baltazar Lesný and Victorie Sujerlova. After school first in a naval academy at Pula, from 1903 studies at Prague, of classical philology, IE and Indology (Zubatý and Winternitz). Ph.D. 1907/08…
LESKIEN, Johann Heinrich August. Kiel 8.7.1840 — Leipzig 20.9.1916. German IE and Slavic Linguist. Professor in Leipzig. Son of August Wilhelm Leskien, a master carpenter, and Magdalena Schmidt. With his modest background he could only enter the Gymnasium in Kiel in the age of 16, but then proceeded rapidly. In 1860…