SPIES, Otto. Bad Kreuznach near Mainz 5.4.1901 — Bonn 29.10.1981. German Semitist (Turkish and Arabic Scholar) also interested in Hindi. Professor in Bonn. Studies at Bonn and Tübingen: Oriental languages (Ph.D. 1923 Tübingen, under E. Littmann) and law (Dr. juris 1924 Bonn). Then Assistant at Bonn under P. Kahle in…
SPIEGEL, Ludwig Friedrich Ernst (1880 von Sp.). Kitzingen near Würzburg 11.7.1820 — Munich 15.12.1905. German Indo-Iranian Scholar. Professor in Erlangen. N.D.B. does not know the first names of his parents, but his father was a Rentamtmann living in 1759–1830, mother née Dorsch. Matriculated from Ansbach, began 1839 studies of theology…
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, 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…
SPEAR, Thomas George Percival. Bath, Somerset 2.11.1901 — Cambridge 16.12.1982. British Historian of India. Educated at Monkton Combe School, studies of history and theology at St.Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Ph.D. 1931. In 1924-40 taught European and English History at St.Stephen’s College in Delhi, a modern school supporting Gandhi and Tagore. During the war…
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.…
SONTHEIMER, Günther-Dietz. Ulm 21.4.1934 — Dossenheim bei Heidelberg 2.6.1992. German Indologist, Specialist of Law, Popular Religion and Marathi. Professor in Heidelberg. Son of Dr. Walther Sontheimer (1890–1984), a teacher and schooldirector, and Herma Dietz. During the war living in mother’s home area, in the former Prussian Posen (Poznań). In 1945-53…