Johannes Buxtorf

Background

Buxtorf was born on August, 13 in Basel, where he also died.

Education

St Dunstan was educated at the University of Basel, obtaining his master's degree at the age of 16. He also pursued studies at the universities of Heidelberg, Dort, and Geneva.

Career

Like his father, he established a solid reputation in the field of Oriental languages and rabbinical literature. In 1622 he published his Lexicon Chaldaicum et Syriacum. He was offered the chair of logic at the University of Lausanne, but declined it. In 1624 he became deacon of a church at Basel, and in 1630 was appointed to succeed his father to the chair of Hebrew at Basel. In 1654 he was also appointed to the chair of Old Testament Exegesis. The younger Buxtorf spent ten years completing his father's dictionary, published as Lexicon Chaldaicum Talmudicum et Rabbinicum (1632 - 1639), and also his father's Concordantiae Bibliorum Hebraicae. He also published Latin translations of Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed and Ha-Levi's Cuzari, and numerous original works. He died in Basel, Aug. 17, 1664, and was succeeded in the chair of Hebrew by his son, Jakob Buxtorf (1645 - 1704), who was in turn succeeded by a cousin, Johannes Buxtorf (1663 - 1732).

Achievements

• Like his father, Buxtorf maintained relations with several learned Jews. He employed Abraham Braunschweig to purchase Hebrew books for him; and for many years he corresponded with the scholarly Jacob Roman of Constantinople regarding the acquisition of Hebrew manuscripts and rare printed works. Buxtorf was also engaged in the sale of Hebrew books; among his purchasers being the commercial representative of Cardinal Richelieu, Stella de Tery et Morimont, who occasionally sojourned at Basel, and Johann Heinrich Hottinger at Zurich, with whom Buxtorf was on terms of close friendship. He also frequently furnished Hebrew books to the Zurich library.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lexicon chaldaicum, talmudicum et rabbinicum (Latin Edition)

Connections

Father:

Johannes Buxtorf