HUPFELD

hupfeld, hermann (1796-1866), german orientalist and biblical commentator, was born on the 31st of march 1796 at marburg, where he studied philosophy and theology from 1813 to 1817; in 1819 he became a teacher in the gymnasium at hanau, but in 1822 resigned that appointment. after studying for some time at halle, he in 1824 settled as _privatdocent_ in philosophy at that university, and in the following year was appointed extraordinary professor of theology at marburg. there he received the ordinary professorships of oriental languages and of theology in 1827 and 1830 respectively; thirteen years later he removed as successor of wilhelm gesenius (1786-1842) to halle. in 1865 he was accused by some theologians of the hengstenberg school of heretical doctrines. from this charge, however, he successfully cleared himself, the entire theological faculty, including julius muller (1801-1878) and august tholuck (1799-1877), bearing testimony to his sufficient orthodoxy. he died at halle on the 24th of april 1866. his earliest works in the department of semitic philology (_exercitationes aethiopicae_, 1825, and _de emendanda ratione lexicographiae semiticae_, 1827) were followed by the first part (1841), mainly historical and critical, of an _ausfuhrliche hebraische grammatik_, which he did not live to complete, and by a treatise on the early history of hebrew grammar among the jews (_de rei grammaticae apud judaeos initiis antiquissimisque scriptoribus_, halle, 1846). his principal contribution to biblical literature, the exegetical and critical _ubersetzung und auslegung der psalmen_, began to appear in 1855, and was completed in 1861 (2nd ed. by e. riehm, 1867-1871, 3rd ed. 1888). other writings are _uber begriff und methode der sogenannten biblischen einleitung_ (marburg, 1844); _de primitiva et vera festorum apud hebraeos ratione_ (halle, 1851-1864); _die quellen der genesis von neuem untersucht_ (berlin, 1853); _die heutige theosophische oder mythologische theologie und schrifterklarung_ (1861). see e. riehm, _hermann hupfeld_ (halle, 1867); w. kay, _crisis hupfeldiana_ (1865); and the article by a. kamphausen in band viii. of herzog-hauck's _realencyklopadie_ (1900).