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Jacob Christmann

ياكوب كريستمان

Notable figure 1554–1613 · Source: Johann Fück, Tarikh harakat al-istishraq (Die arabischen Studien in Europa), trans. ʿUmar Lutfi al-ʿAlim, 2nd ed., Dar al-Madar al-Islami, Beirut 2001, p. ٥٥–٥٧ · Second source: Deutsche Biographie (ADB): Christmann, Jakob (1554–1613), GND 124886760

Field: Teaching Arabic

Affiliation

Alphabetum arabicum (1582); Arabic chair, Heidelberg

Biography

Born at Johannisberg in the Rheingau, he was the first to work seriously on Postel's manuscripts at Heidelberg, drawing up a list of them. In 1582 he issued Alphabetum arabicum on writing and reading Arabic, with letters cut in wood to his own design. In the dedication of his Latin al-Farghani (1590) he called for a chair of Arabic, and Elector Friedrich IV appointed him professor of it at Heidelberg in 1608.