Background
Erman was born in Berlin, Oct. 31, 1854. The original edition of his Neuägyptische Grammatik appeared in 1880, and his most influential book, the Agyptische Grammatik, was published in 1894. Erman was the first to recognize an organic relationship between Egyptian and Semitic, the first to appreciate the chronological element in the evolution of the Egyptian language, and the first to insist on an adequate knowledge of Coptic as prerequisite to the study of hieroglyphic texts. His monumental Berlin dictionary of Egyptian, the Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, will long remain the most important reference work in Egyptology. Erman taught at the University of Berlin, and his many students, among whom were G. Steindorff and K. Sethe, formed the gifted and influential circle of Egyptologists known as "The Berlin School," long without rival. Among Erman's other works are Agypten und ägyptisches Leben (1885) and his autobiography, Mein Werden und mein Wirken (1929). He died in Berlin on June 26, 1937.