Albert Schultens as an innovator of Biblical Hebrew philology

The Dutch Orientalist, Hebraist, and Arabist Albert Schultens (1685–1750) pioneered the comparative study of Biblical Hebrew. This volume offers the first comprehensive analysis and contextualization of Schultens’ published works on Hebrew philology. It also briefly surveys his unpublished manuscripts and the extant records of his university courses. The intro-ductory chapter examines scholarly approaches to Biblical Hebrew in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period marked by recurrent debate over intrinsic flaws in the Hebrew language and epistemic gaps in Hebrew philology – a topic that pervades Schultens’ linguistic thought. The final chapters explore the historical reception of Schultens’ theory and method in the Netherlands and in a broader European context, especially in Germany and Sweden. Schultens’ works are in Latin, as are those of most other premodern scholars of comparative Hebrew philology. This has posed an obstacle for modern scholars of Semitic linguistics seeking to engage with his linguistic ideas. This volume helps to break down the Latin barrier surrounding early modern scholarship on Hebrew and Semitic philology.