Albert Socin

Albert Socin (13 October 1844 in Basel – 24 June 1899 in Leipzig) was a Swiss orientalist, who specialized in research of Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish and contemporary Arabic dialects. He also made contributions to the geography, archaeology, religion, art and literature of the Middle East.^[1]

He studied philology at the University of Basel and Oriental studies at the universities of Göttingen and Leipzig,^[2] receiving his habilitation for Oriental languages in 1871 at Basel. In 1873 he became an associate professor, then from 1876 to 1890 served as a full professor of Semitic languages at the University of Tübingen. From 1890 up until his death in 1899, he was a professor of Oriental languages at the University of Leipzig.^[1]

In 1868–70, with Eugen Prym, he carried out language research in the Levant and Iraq, then in 1873 returned to the Middle East on behalf of the Baedeker publishing firm. He was a founding member of the Deutschen Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas ("German Society for the Exploration of Palestine").^[1][2]

Selected works

• Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
• Kurdische sammlungen (2 volumes 1887–90, with Eugen Prym) – Kurdish collections.
• Die Genesis : mit äusserer Unterscheidung der Quellenschriften (with Emil Friedrich Kautzsch), 1891 – The Genesis: with external distinction of documentary sources.
• Arabische Grammatik : Paradigmen, Literatur, Übungsstücke und Glossar (3rd edition, 1894) – Arabic grammar: paradigms, literature, studies and glossary.
• Diwan aus Centralarabien, 1900–01 – Diwan of central Arabia (collected, translated and explained by Socin, edited by Hans Stumme).
• Palestine and Syria with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia; handbook for travellers; by Karl Baedeker. With 20 maps, 52 plans, and a panorama of Jerusalem (authors Albert Socin, John P. Peters, Immanuel Benzinger. First edition by Socin in 1875; the fourth English edition (1906) is based on the sixth German edition).
• Neuaramäische Märchen und andere Texte aus Maʹlūla in deutscher übersetzung, hauptsächlich aus der sammlung E. Prym's und A Socin's, 1915 (with Eugen Prym, Gotthelf Bergsträsser) – New Aramaic tales and other texts from Ma'lula.^[3]

Maps from "Palestine and Syria with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia".

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  Northern Palestine

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  Ancient Jerusalem

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  Northern Lebanon

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  Highland of Judea

References

1. Prof. Dr. phil. Albert Socin Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig
2. Socin, Albert Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz
3. HathiTrust Digital Library published works