É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
HOPKINS, Simon: The Language Studies of Ignaz Goldziher
SIMON HOPKINS Yet he is conscious of the need to improve his fluency (p. 125). In Egypt too Goldziher took private conversation lessons (p. 147). 17 1 He also declares an interest in children's language. 1' 7 On board the boat bound for Ismä'Tliyya he strikes up a conversation with a child of two (p. 140); later on he parleys with a ten-year-old (p. 143) and examines schoolchildren in Arabic syntax (p. 145). His colloquial Cairene indeed seems to have been extremely efficient. It is worth observing that the vernacular proficiency of Goldziher's younger years in the Middle East in 1873-4 remained undiminished in later life. At the 1894 congress of orientalists in Geneva he reproved a group of wine-drinking Egyptian students in their native tongue,' 7 3 and when he returned to Egypt in 1896 he writes to Nöldeke: "Recht erfreulich war mir die Erfahrung, dass ich den Argot des Volkes noch ganz erträglich spreche, und dass mir der Verkehr mit den Gebildeteren sind ihm in Aussicht gestellt, wenn er Atteste von "Fachleuten" aufweisen kann. Als solchen "Fachmann" hat mich nun der Autor neben anderen auserkoren und da soll ich nun die Sachen heute noch bei nichtschlafender Zeit durchsehen. Und um die Sache bis zum Nervöswerden zu steigern, ist die Gattin des Autors persönlich hier in Europa, um die Atteste zu betreiben. Und ich habe Gunst in ihren Augen gefunden und sie hat mich als neuhebräischen "Fachmann" dekretiert und da hilft kein Ausweichen. Dabei spricht die Dame ein elendes Arabisch, so dass wir in hebräischer Sprache konversieren müssen, was mir zwar nicht schwer ist, aber doch etwas unnatürlich vorkommt. Sie ist Schuld daran, dass ich diesen Brief nun jäh abbreche, da die Dame in 10-15 Minuten auf meiner Bude erscheinen dürfte ". In Nöldeke's reply of 16.5.1907 (Simon, Letters 300, where for Bét y ehüdäh read Bat y ehüdäh) he enquires about this Hebrew conversation with Mrs. Ben Yehuda. No answer from Goldziher can be found in the transcript of the GoldziherNöldeke correspondence. I.O.]. Hemda Ben Yehuda seems not to refer to her visit to Goldziher in either mirr-p Itsfbs "n - -itraan nrnbn (n.p. or d.; preface signed Jerusalem, 14 years after the Balfour Declaration = 193t) or ibysül VTl - rmrr-p (Jerusalem 1940) but she had apparently approved the very brief account given by R. St. John. Tongue of the Prophets (New York 1952) ch. 39 (pp. 292-3 or p. 271 depending on the printing). Goldziher is mentioned in this connection in the Prolegomena to the Thesaurus Totius Hebraitatis (Jerusalem 1940) 19 and his Hebrew 'Attest' for the work can be read in a booklet entitled mirr-p nybttb ntsnnm rwn nnavn ptybn pba ba> rraay mnna by (Jerusalem - Tel Aviv 1946-7) 55; technically these few lines should be added to the Goldziher bibliography. [Cf. Alexander Scheiber, 'Addenda to the bibliography of Goldziher', in: Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume II, ed. Samuel Löwinger et al., Jerusalem 1958, 211 (no. 703). I. O.]. For Goldziher's written Hebrew see above n.130. 17 1 Goldziher's conversation teacher was Hasanein Efendi, the source of the "Jugend- und Strassenpoesie in Kairo", ZDMG 33 (1879), 608-630 = GS II 48 (Tagebuch 66). A letter of his on the publications of the Bulaq press is given by Goldziher in ZDMG 28 (1874), 679-680. 17 2 Cf. his "Altarabische Wiegen- und Schlummerlieder", WZKM 2 (1888), 164-167 = GS II 322. [Cf. W. Walther, 'Altarabische Kindertanzreime' in: Studio orientalia in memóriám Caroli Brockelmann, Halle [Saale] 1968, 232 n. 1. I. O.]. 17 3 R. Gottheil, JAOS 42 (1922), 190. 120
