ERSKINE, William. Edinburgh 8.11.1773 — Edinburgh 20.5.1852. British (Scottish) Civil Servant and Lawyer. 1804-23 in India. Son of David E., a lawyer, and Jean Melvin. Educated at Royal High School and Edinburgh University (dr. iuris). He “was a lawyer’s apprentice, 1792-9, went to India in 1803-4 with Sir James Mackintosh”,…
ERNŠTEDT (Jernstedt), Petr Viktorovič. Gačina (Hačina) 9.(21.)6.1890 — Leningrad 25.12.1966. Russian Egyptologist. Son of a classical scholar, Viktor Karlovič E. (d. 1902). Graduated 1913 from St.Petersburg. Magistr 1917, kand. jazykoved. 1935, Dr. filol. nauk 1942. In 1918-50 he worked as naučnyj sotrudnik at Oriental Institute of Russian Academy, also in…
EILERS, Wilhelm Max J. Leipzig 27.9.1906 — Würzburg 3.7.1989. German Oriental (Semitic) and Iranian Scholar. Professor in Würzburg. Son of a Gymnasium Professor, matriculated from Zwickau. Studies of musicology, law and Assyriology at Freiburg, Munich and Leipzig (Dr.iuris 1931 Leipzig, with a diss. on ancient Babylonian laws), then Oriental languages…
EASTWICK, Edward Backhouse. Warfield, Berkshire 13.3.1814 — Ventnor, Isle of Wight 16.7.1883. British Colonial Officer, Diplomat, Indologist and Oriental Scholar (Urdu and Persian). Son of sea-captain Robert William E. (1772–1865) of Bombay Marine, brother of William Joseph E. (1808–1889) of I.C.S. and Council of India. Educated at Charterhouse and from…
DUPONT-SOMMER, André Louis. Marnes-la-Coquette near Paris 23.12.1900 — Paris 14.5.1983. French Epigraphist and Semitic Scholar, a Specialist of Aramaic. Son of a lawyer. After school military service in 1920-22. Then studied philology and theology in Paris, licence in both in 1924 and 1928 resp. Further studies of archaeology in Jerusalem,…
DUBEUX, J. Louis. Lisbon, Portugal 2.11.1798 — Paris 4.10.1863. French Oriental Scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of a clerk of the French embassy in Lisbon, in 1808 the family returned with French troops from Portugal. From 1816 worked in Royal Library, in 1835-48 as conservateur adjoint. From 1848 Jaubert’s successor…
DOW, Alexander. Crieff, Perthshire 1735/36 — Bhagalpur 31.7.1779. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer, Historian and Persian Scholar in India. Son of a customs officer. He had mercantile education, but had to leave Scotland after a fatal duel. He came to Bencoolen (Sumatra) as a sailor and entered in 1760 the E.I.C.’s…
DORN, Johann Albrecht Bernhard (Boris Andreevič) von. Scheuerfeld bei Koburg 11.5.1805 — St.Petersburg 19.5.(31.5.)1881. German Oriental (Iranian) Scholar in Russia. Son of Heinrich Wilhelm D., a minister, and Susanna Friederike Bühl. Gymnasium in Coburg. Studies from 1822, first Theology, soon Oriental languages, at Halle and Leipzig. Ph.D. and PD (diss.…
DILLMANN, Christian Friedrich August. Illingen bei Maulbronn 25.4.1823 — Berlin 4.7.1894. German Semitic Scholar, famous Pioneer of Ethiopian Studies. Professor in Berlin. Son of Elias D., a school principal, and Christiana Louisa Wiemeg. Studied theology and philology at Tübingen, mainly under Ewald, but also Roth and Schleicher. Ph.D. 1846. Ordained…
DIETZ, Friedrich Reinhold. Königsberg 12.1.1805 — Königsberg 5.6.1836. German Physician and Philologist (Historian of Medicine). School and studies of medicine and philology at Königsberg, Dr. med. there 1826. With a scholarship by the government travelled in France, Italy, England and Spain studying Greek, Arabic and (in England) Indian medical manuscripts.…