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SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1794)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 501 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:WILLIAM See also:JONES (1746-1794)  , See also:British Orientalist and jurist, was See also:born in See also:London on the 28th of See also:September 1746 . He distinguished himself at See also:Harrow, and during his last three years there applied himself to the study of See also:Oriental See also:languages, teaching himself the rudiments of Arabic, and See also:reading See also:Hebrew with tolerable ease . In his vacations he improved his acquaintance with See also:French and See also:Italian . In 1764 See also:Jones entered University See also:College, See also:Oxford, where he continued to study Oriental literature, and perfected himself in See also:Persian and Arabic by the aid of a Syrian Mirza, whom he had discovered and brought from London . He added to his knowledge of Hebrew and made considerable progress in Italian, See also:Spanish and Portuguese . He began the study of See also:Chinese, and made himself See also:master of the See also:radical characters of that See also:language . During five years he partly supported himself by acting as See also:tutor to See also:Lord Althorpe, afterwards the second See also:Earl See also:Spencer, and in 1766 he obtained a fellowship . Though but twenty-two years of See also:age, he was already becoming famous as an Orientalist, and when See also:Christian VII. of See also:Denmark visited See also:England in 1768, bringing with him a See also:life of See also:Nadir Shah in Persian, Jones was requested to translate the MS. into French . The See also:translation appeared in 1770, with an introduction containing a description of See also:Asia and a See also:short See also:history of See also:Persia . This was followed in the same See also:year by a Traite sur la poesie orientale, and by a French metrical translation ofthe odes of See also:Hafiz . In 1771 he published a Dissertation sur la liteerature orientale, defending Oxford scholars against the criticisms made by See also:Anquetil Du See also:Perron in the introduction to his translation of the Zend-Avesta . In the same year appeared his See also:Grammar of the Persian Language .

In 1772 Jones published a See also:

volume of Poems, Chiefly See also:Translations from Asiatick Languages, together with Two Essays on the See also:Poetry of Eastern Nations and on the Arts commonly called Imitative, and in 1774 a See also:treatise entitled Poeseos Asiaticce commentatorium libri See also:sex, which definitely confirmed his authority as an Oriental See also:scholar . Finding that some more financially profitable occupation was necessary, Jones devoted himself with his customary See also:energy to the study of the See also:law, and was called to the See also:bar at the See also:Middle See also:Temple in 1774 . He studied not merely the technicalities, but the See also:philosophy, of law, and within two years had acquired so considerable a reputation that he was in 1776 appointed See also:commissioner in See also:bankruptcy . Besides See also:writing an See also:Essay on the Law of Bailments, which enjoyed a high reputation both in England and See also:America, Jones translated, in 1778, the speeches of See also:Isaeus on the Athenian right of See also:inheritance . In 178o he was a See also:parliamentary See also:candidate for the university of Oxford, but withdrew from the contest before the See also:day of See also:election, as he found he had no See also:chance of success owing to his Liberal opinions, especially on the questions of the See also:American See also:War and of the slave See also:trade . In 1783 was published his translation of the seven See also:ancient Arabic poems called Moallakdt . In the same year he was appointed See also:judge of the supreme See also:court of judicature at See also:Calcutta, then " Fort See also:William," and was knighted . Shortly after his arrival in See also:India he founded, in See also:January 1784, the See also:Bengal See also:Asiatic Society, of which he remained See also:president till his See also:death . Convinced as he was of the See also:great importance of consulting the . See also:Hindu legal authorities in the See also:original, he at once began the study of See also:Sanskrit, and undertook, in 1788, the See also:colossal task of compiling a See also:digest of Hindu and See also:Mahommedan law . This he did not live to See also:complete, but he published the admirable beginnings of it in his Institutes of Hindu Law, or the Ordinances of Manu (1794); his Mohammedan Law of See also:Succession to See also:Property of Intestates; and his Mohammedan Law of Inheritance (1792) . In 1789 Jones had completed his translation of See also:Kalidasa's most famous See also:drama, Sakuntald .

He also translated the collection of fables entitled the Hitopadesa, the Gitagovinda, and considerable portions of the Vedas, besides editing the See also:

text of Kalidasa's poem Ritusamhara . He was a large contributor also to his society's volumes of Asiatic Researches . His unremitting See also:literary labours, together with his heavy judicial See also:work, told on his See also:health after a ten years' See also:residence in Bengal; and he died at Calcutta on the 27th of See also:April 1794 . An extraordinary linguist, knowing thirteen languages well, and having a moderate acquaintance with twenty-eight others, his range of knowledge was enormous . As a See also:pioneer in Sanskrit learning and as founder of the Asiatic Society he rendered the language and literature of the ancient See also:Hindus accessible to See also:European scholars, and thus became the indirect cause of later achievements in the See also:field of Sanskrit and See also:comparative See also:philology . A See also:monument to his memory was erected by the See also:East India See also:Company in St See also:Paul's, London, and a statue in Calcutta . See the Memoir (1804) by Lord See also:Teignmouth, published in the collected edition of See also:Sir W . Jones's See also:works .

End of Article: SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1794)
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Additional information and Comments

Sir William Jones is best known by modern linguists as a pioneer in the recognition of the very existence of the Indo-European language family, being the first to observe similarities between Europe's classical languaes and Sanskrit.
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