Albert Schultens as an innovator of Hebrew etymology and lexicography

The Dutch Orientalist, Hebraist, and Arabist Albert Schultens (1685–1750) advanced the comparative method through morphological and etymological analyses of Biblical Hebrew, using related languages such as Arabic as reference points. In the 1740s, he compiled his extensive knowledge into an etymological Hebrew dictionary covering two-thirds of the alphabet. This volume establishes Schultens as a pioneer in early modern comparative Hebrew language studies. It examines the theoretical and methodological foundations of his etymology and lexicographical contributions, and presents a history of Hebrew lexicography in early modern Europe, marking the first systematic study of the field since Wilhelm Gesenius. The work illustrates how Schultens reclassified the Semitic languages, renewed the use of Arabic for etymological purposes, refuted the conception of Hebrew as the primeval, holy language, and employed conceptual tools from the Greco-Roman tradition to investigate semantic origins and change, sound correspondences, and morphological structure. Moreover, it sheds light on Schultens’ links to the Cocceian party of the Dutch Reformed Church and his role in the transition from rationalism to empiricism in the Dutch pre-Enlightenment era, particularly his endorsement of John Locke’s sensualistic empiricism.