LUDOLF (or LEUTHOLF), HIOB (1624-1704)  , German orientalist, was born at Erfurt on the 15th of June 1624 . After studying philology at the Erfurt academy and at Leiden, he travelled in order to increase his linguistic knowledge . While in Italy he became acquainted with one Gregorius, an Abyssinian scholar, and acquired from him an intimate knowledge of the Ethiopian language . In 1652 he entered the service of the duke of Saxe-Gotha, in which he continued until 1678, when he retired to Frankfort-on-Main . In 1683 he visited England to promote a cherished scheme for establishing trade with Abyssinia, but his efforts were unsuccessful, chiefly through the bigotry of the authorities of the Abyssinian Church . Returning to Frankfort in 1684, he gave himself wholly to literary work, which he continued almost to his death on the 8th of April 1704 . In 1690 he was appointed president of the collegium imperiale historicum . The works of Ludolf, who is said to have been acquainted with twenty-five languages, include Sciagraphia historiae aethiopicae (Jena, 1676); and the Historia aethiopica (Frankfort, 1681), which has been translated into English, French and Dutch, and which was supplemented by a Commentarius (1691) and by Appendices (1693—1694) . Among his other works are: Grammatica linguae amharicae (Frankfort, 1698) ; Lexicon amharico-latinum (Frankfort, 1698) ; Lexicon aethiopico-latinum (Frankfort, 1699); and Grammatica aethiopica (London, 1661, and Frankfort, 1702) . In his Grammatik der athiopischen Sprache (1857) August Dillmann throws doubt on the story of Ludolf's intimacy with Gregorius . See C . Juncker, Commentarius de vita et scriptis Jobi Ludolfi (Frankfort, 171o); L .

Diestel, Geschichte

des alien Testaments in der christlichen Kirche (Jena, 1868) ; and J . Flemming, " Hiob Ludolf," in the Beitrage zur Assyriologie (Leipzig, 189o—1891) .