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Thomas Hunt

توماس هنت

Notable figure 1696–1774 · Source: Najib al-Aqiqi, al-Mustashriqun, 3rd ed. (Cairo: Dar al-Maʿarif, 1964), vol. 2, p. 546; Yahya Murad, Muʿjam asmaʾ al-mustashriqin, p. 1076 · Second source: VIAF, authority record: Hunt, Thomas, 1696-1774

Field: Teaching Arabic

Affiliation

Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford (1738–1774)

Biography

Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he held the Laudian chair of Arabic there from 1738 until his death, and the Regius chair of Hebrew from 1747. His inaugural lecture was a Latin oration on the antiquity, elegance and usefulness of Arabic (1739). He helped Gregory Sharpe edit the works of Thomas Hyde and began a Latin translation of ʿAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi's account of Egypt, which he did not finish.