É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.
HOPKINS, Simon: The Language Studies of Ignaz Goldziher
THE LANGUAGE STUDIES OF IGNAZ GOLDZIHER Zuhayr and an ode of 'Antara (p. 123), 16 4 but also ventured some poetical improvisations of his own (p. 122). To the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem he addressed a text of his own composition in classical Arabic prose (p. 134).Throughout his tour, in Syria and later in Egypt, it is quite obvious that Goldziher was able to express himself in classical Arabic with ease and to understand everything that was conducted in that medium. 16 6 It was not for nothing that he later spoke of the "Triumph meiner arabischen Sprachfertigkeit"."' 7 While Goldziher's command of classical Arabic won him the indulgent admiration of the learned, his lofty mode of speech prompted a certain amusement among the unlettered journeymen of the Beirut bazaar, who referred to him as "a mad grammarian" ( nahwi majnüri). m Even without the added incentive provoked by this incident, acquisition of the colloquial was one of the official aims imposed by the sponsors of Goldziher's Middle Eastern tour. 1"'' Disenchanted with the European society of Beirut, he moved to Damascus, where he considered his chances of learning colloquial Arabic to be rather better (p. 111). Damascus was a delight to him. Here he at once set about acquiring the local dialect, and with the help of lessons from a Protestant watchmaker named Constantin al-Baitar (p. 118) he was soon proficient enough to participate actively in Damascene life, to enjoy the declamations of the coffee-house storytellers, to attend the shadow plays (p. 119) and to converse with wide sections of the population in their own tongue (pp. 113ff. ). 17( 1 im £ onra cj jras 1990, 118. For Goldziher's prodigious memory in such matters see Yahuda, Der Jude 8 (1924), 580. 16 5 For which see Conrad, JRAS 1990, 119-120. 16 6 Further references by Goldziher himself to his speaking Arabic: Tagebuch 57ff., 63, 68, 113, 182, 185. This ability to speak Arabic was known, of course to Nöldeke (Simon, Letters 355 and above n. 156). 16 7 Tagebuch 56. 16 8 History of Grammar 27. 16 9 Tagebuch 54, 56. 17 0 An interesting detail on spoken Hebrew is provided on p.i 13 of the Oriental Diary, where we are told that Mr. Farhi, a local Jew who served as dragoman to the Austrian consul in Damascus, addressed Goldziher in the Holy Tongue. Unfortunately, Goldziher is silent about how the conversation continued. He was certainly also able to converse in Hebrew if the occasion arose; this is stated by his student J. Pedersen in his Geleitwort to the Gesammelte Schriften published by DeSomogyi (i, viii) and one occasion on which Goldziher spoke Hebrew is mentioned by Nöldeke in his letter of 16.5.1907 (Simon, Letters 300). [The circumstances of this Hebrew conversation emerge from the preceding (unpublished) letter dated 21.4.1907, in which Goldziher writes to Nöldeke: "Heute Abends steht mir ein Vergnügen ganz besonderer Art bevor. Sie wissen, dass ein Herr Ben Jehuda aus Jerusalem (kein Verwandter meines Freundes Yahuda) die Materialien zu einem Thesaurus der hebr. Sprache, der vom Biblischen an durch alle Phasen der Sprachgeschichte bis herab zur modernen Spracherneuerung, den gesammten historisch gewordenen hebr. Sprachschatz umfassend bucht, gesammelt hat. Die Kosten des Druckes 119
