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Document Details : Title: The Last Letter from Étienne Hubert to Joseph Scaliger Subtitle: Oriental Languages and Scholarly Collaboration in Seventeenth-Century Europe Author(s): PALABIYIK, Nil Journal: Lias Volume: 45 Issue: 1 Date: 2018 Pages: 113-143 DOI: 10.2143/LIAS.45.1.3285541 Abstract : Between August 1607 and October 1608, the humanist scholar Joseph Scaliger and the physician Étienne Hubert exchanged five letters revealing the close collaboration between Scaliger in Leiden, and Hubert and Isaac Casaubon in Paris in studying Oriental texts. This paper translates and discusses the last letter from Hubert to Scaliger in detail, identifies the authors, texts, editions and manuscripts alluded to, and explains the passages quoted and foreign-language words mentioned in the letter. Understanding the references in Hubert’s letter is fundamental to exploring the nature and scope of Oriental learning in early seventeenth century Europe. It emerges from this new reading of the letter and other related primary materials that knowledge of Turkish was considered essential for Oriental studies, and Hubert and Scaliger were in search of native speakers who could help them read Arabic and Persian books which were procured from the Ottoman Empire and, therefore, featured Turkish explications. |
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