Johannes Jakob Buxtorf
Encyclopedia
Johannes Jakob Buxtorf was Professor of Hebrew at Basel
. He was a son of Johannes Buxtorf II
, by his fourth wife.
and educated at the university there. According to a letter written by his father to Coccejus in 1663, he was able at eighteen to read the Hebrew text of the Bible and of the Targum
s; and he is said also to have had some acquaintance with the Rabbinic and the Syriac.
He succeeded his father as professor of Hebrew in November, 1664. In the following year he received leave of absence and visited Geneva, France, Holland (wintering at Leyden), and London. The general suspicion of foreigners in London just after the great fire of 1666, however, caused Buxtorf to take refuge in a neighboring village, whence he later went to Oxford and Cambridge.
In 1669 he returned to Basel and resumed his duties at the university, in addition to acting as librarian. After his death the library collected by the three Buxtorfs (I., II., and III.), and valued at 300 louis d'or
, was secured for 1,000 thaler
s by the public library at Basel.
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. He was a son of Johannes Buxtorf II
Johannes Buxtorf II
Johannes Buxtorf the Younger, was son of the scholar Johannes Buxtorf, and a Protestant Christian Hebraist.-Life:...
, by his fourth wife.
Life
He was born in BaselBasel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
and educated at the university there. According to a letter written by his father to Coccejus in 1663, he was able at eighteen to read the Hebrew text of the Bible and of the Targum
Targum
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
s; and he is said also to have had some acquaintance with the Rabbinic and the Syriac.
He succeeded his father as professor of Hebrew in November, 1664. In the following year he received leave of absence and visited Geneva, France, Holland (wintering at Leyden), and London. The general suspicion of foreigners in London just after the great fire of 1666, however, caused Buxtorf to take refuge in a neighboring village, whence he later went to Oxford and Cambridge.
In 1669 he returned to Basel and resumed his duties at the university, in addition to acting as librarian. After his death the library collected by the three Buxtorfs (I., II., and III.), and valued at 300 louis d'or
Louis d'or
The Louis d'or is any number of French coins first introduced by Louis XIII in 1640. The name derives from the depiction of the portrait of King Louis on one side of the coin; the French royal coat of arms is on the reverse...
, was secured for 1,000 thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
s by the public library at Basel.
Works
He wrote little with the exception of a preface to his edition of his grandfather's Tiberias (Basel, 1665), and his emendations to the Synagoga Judaica (1680).Sources
- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=B&artid=1628
- http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc02.html?term=Buxtorf