Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort | |
---|---|
Born |
c. 1715 |
Died | 1761 | (aged 45–46)
Nationality | Dutch |
Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
Occupation | Professor of Hebrew Language |
Known for | Hebrew Quran of the Library of Congress, rabbinical Hebrew New Testament from Cochin |
Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort (c. 1715–1761) was a Dutch Hebrew professor, responsible for translating an Indian version of the Hebrew New Testament and a Hebrew Quran.
Leopold Immanuel Jacob van Dort was born Jewish between 1714 and 1717 in Dordrecht, Netherlands. [1] [2] He converted to Catholicism in December 1745 in Aachen. [1] He studied briefly philosophy at the University of Leipzig with professor Johann Friedrich May in 1753. [1] In 1754 [1] he was enlisted by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to work as a professor of Hebrew Language at the Seminary of Colombo, Ceylon. [1] [3] In 1756 he traveled to Cochin, [1] India, where he was commissioned by Ezekiel Rahabi to finish the translation of the Hebrew New Testament (1741-1756), [4] which Claudius Buchanan took with him to England and currently resides in the Cambridge University Library. Ezekiel Rahabi also commissioned van Dort as the translator of the Hebrew Quran (1757-1761), [4] [5] which resides in the Library of Congress in Washington. [6] Van Dort is further known for his 1757 translations of the excerpts of the chronicles of the Jews of Cochin. [3] [7]
Van Dort died in 1761, at the age of 46. [1]