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DONALDSON, JOHN WILLIAM (1811-1861)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 406 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DONALDSON, See also:JOHN See also:WILLIAM (1811-1861) , See also:English philologist and biblical critic, was See also:born in See also:London on the 7th of See also:June 1811. He was educated at University See also:College, London. and Trinity College, See also:Cambridge, of which society he subsequently became See also:fellow. In 1841 he was elected headmaster of See also:King See also:Edward's school, See also:Bury St See also:Edmunds. In 1855 he resigned his See also:post and returned to Cambridge, where his See also:time was divided between See also:literary See also:work and private tuition. He died on the loth of See also:February 1861. He is remembered as a See also:pioneer of See also:philology in See also:England, and as a See also:great See also:scholar in his See also:day, though See also:mach of his work is now obsolete. The New Cratylus (1839), the See also:book on which his fame mainly rests, was an See also:attempt to apply to the See also:Greek See also:language the principles of See also:comparative philology. It was founded mainly on the comparative See also:grammar of See also:Bopp, but a large See also:part of it was See also:original, Bopp's grammar not being completed till ten years after the first edition of the Cratylus. In the Varronianus (1844) the same method was applied to Latin, Umbrian and Oscan. His See also:Jashar (1854), written in Latin as an See also:appeal to the learned See also:world, and especially to See also:German theologians, was an attempt to reconstitute the lost biblical book of Jashar from the remains of old songs and See also:historical records, which, according to the author, are incorporated in the existing See also:text of the Old Testament. His bold views on the nature of See also:inspiration, and his See also:free handling of the sacred text, aroused the anger of the theologians. Of his numerous other See also:works the most important are The See also:Theatre of the Greeks; The See also:History of the Literature of See also:Ancient See also:Greece (a See also:translation and completion of C.

O. See also:

Muller's unfinished work); See also:editions of the Odes of See also:Pindar and the See also:Antigone of See also:Sophocles; a See also:Hebrew, a Greek and a Latin Grammar.

End of Article: DONALDSON, JOHN WILLIAM (1811-1861)

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