SPEYER, JACOB SAMUEL:

Dutch philologist; born at Amsterdam Dec. 20, 1849. He studied at Amsterdam and at Leyden (Ph.D. 1872); and thereafter officiated as teacher at Hoorn and (1873-1888) at the gymnasium of Amsterdam. On Oct. 15, 1877, he was appointed lecturer in Sanskrit and comparative philology at the University of Amsterdam, and he was about to receive a professorship there when he was called to Gröningen (Dec. 19, 1888) as professor of Latin. He held this chair until March 20, 1903, when he was appointed to succeed his former teacher H. Kern as professor of Sanskrit at the University of Leyden.

Speyer is the author of the following works: "Specimen Inaugurale de Ceremonia apud Indos Quæ Vocatur Jatakarma"; "Lanx Satura," 1886 (Program of the Gymnasium of Amsterdam); "Sanskrit Syntax," Leyden, 1886; "Plautus' Captivi," 1887; "Observationes et Emendationes," 1891; "Vedische- und Sanskritsyntax" (in Bühler's "Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie"), 1896; "Phædri Fabulæ," 1897; and "Latijnsche Spraakkunst" (2d ed. 1878-80; 3d ed. 1900-1). He also made an English translation of the Sanskrit "Jatakamala," which appeared in "Bijdragen van het Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indie," 1893-94, and in the "Sacred Books of the Buddhists" (ed. F. Max Müller), vol. i.; as well as an English version of the "Avadanasataka," which constitutes No. 3 of the "Bibliotheca Buddhica" (St. Petersburg, 1902-5). Speyer is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. From 1893 to 1904 he was editor of the "Museum."

Bibliography:
  • Groningsch Jaarboek, 1889;
  • Onze Hoogleeraren, in Een Halve Eeuw;
  • Groningsche Studenten Almanak, 1902 (with portrait).
S. E. Sl.
Images of pages