Jones Sir Wm
Achievements: A pioneer in the study of Sanskrit
Born: September 28, 1746; London, England
Died: April 27, 1794; Calcutta, India (Aged 47)
Field & Discipline: Philology; Philologist
Language: English; Arabic; Persian; German; Spanish; Portuguese; Hebrew; Chinese
Father: William Jones (mathematician)
Mother: Maria Nix
Siblings: George; Mary
Spouse: Anna Maria Shipley
Children: None
Education: Harrow School; University College, Oxford; Middle Temple, London
Major Work: "Asiatic Researches"
Life & Times:
Jones’ father was the mathematician [father was] William Jones*. While at Oxford, Jones hired a Syrian scholar to teach him Arabic and Persian. Teaching himself, he became fluent in German, Spanish and Portuguese, and gained some knowledge of Hebrew and Chinese (by the end of his life, Jones had learned 28 languages).
In 1772, he published "Poems, consisting chiefly of translations from the Asiatick Languages, with two Essays on the Poetry of the Eastern Nations, and on the Arts called Imitative,” and in 1774: "Six Books of Commentary on Asiatic Poetry” which finally established his reputation as an Orientalist.
In 1772, Jones was elected to the [member of] Royal Society*. In 1773, he, along with actor [club member with] Garrick*, was invited into [club member with] Dr Johnson*'s, Literary Club, where he made friends with [club member with] Burke* and [club member with] Gibbon*.
In 1774, Jones qualified as a lawyer and six years later ran in the national elections as a candidate for the University of Oxford.
But being an outspoken opponent of the war being waged in the American colonies (he was a friend of [a pal of] Franklin*) and being against the slave trade, he found little favor among conservative voters and failed to be elected.
In 1783, a new and more liberal government gave Jones a judgeship in the British High Court in Calcutta, along with a knighthood, and in April he and his new wife, Anna Maria Shipley (the niece of [marriage-related to] Shipley*, and herself a great friend of Benjamin Franklin), set sail for India.
Hoping to encourage oriental studies, Jones founded (with Charles Wilkins, the "Paxton of India," and employee of the East India Co., depicted in a lost drawing by William Blake) the Bengal Asiatic Society in Calcutta in 1784 and remained its president until his death in 1794. He delivered a lecture a year and contributed generously to the society's "Asiatic Researches.” The activities of his group represented an important era in the Western study of Indian languages, literature and philosophy.
In 1785, he began to study Sanskrit (becoming the first English scholar to master the language) with the aim of preparing an exhaustive digest of Hindu and Muslim law. In his presidential address of 1786, he identified a relationship between Sanskrit and Greek and Latin and suggested the existence of an original, though long-extinct, "Indo-European" language. He also suggested, correctly, that Gothic, Celtic, and Persian belonged to this linguistic family.
In 1789, Jones was the first to translate Kalidasa's "Sakuntala" , perhaps the greatest Indian drama. His English version quickly became popular in Europe and was translated into several European languages.
The German translation of 1791 was particularly notable, as both [influenced] Goethe* and [influenced] Herder* praised it. Jones also translated other Sanskrit works, the most ambitious and successful being his "Ordinances of Manu" (1794), which became the standard European version of this important Sanskrit law book for over a century. In 1792, he published his "Muhammedan Law of Inheritance.”
Extra Connections: Influenced [influenced] Franz Bopp*, [influenced] Friedrich Schlegel*, the brothers [influenced] Grimm* and [influenced] Gauss*
[translated by] Georg Forster* translated into German his translation of “Sakontala”
Assessment: An astounding master of 28 languages, particularly Sanskrit
Oneliner: Sir William Jones, first Western Sanskrit scholar
Bibliography:
- Cannon, Garland and Kevin R. Brine, Objects of Enquiry: The Life, Contributions and Influences of Sir William Jones, New York and London: New York University Press, 1995.
- Collier's Encyclopedia.
- Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
- Encyclopedia Britannica.