The New International Encyclopædia/Deutsch, Emanuel Oscar

DEUTSCH, doich, Emanuel Oscar (1829-73). A distinguished Semitic scholar. He was born of Jewish parents, at Neisse, in Silesia. His education was begun by an uncle, to whose inspiration he owed his interest in Oriental languages and literature, and was finished at the University of Berlin. In 1855 he was called to England to fill an appointment in the library of the British Museum and labored there until his death in 1873. He acquired an extraordinary mastery of the whole range of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Rabbinical literature, and is best known for his articles on the Talmud and Islam in the Quarterly Review, and also wrote excellent articles on the Targum and the Samaritan Pentateuch for Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. The monument of his official work in the British Museum is to be found in the Phœnician Inscriptions, edited by Mr. Vaux, to whom Deutsch rendered most valuable assistance. His engrossing public duties and comparatively short life prevented Deutsch from fulfilling the dream of his life, an elaborate work on the Talmud. Consult his Literary Remains, containing reprints of his most important articles, with memoir (London and New York, 1874). The essay on the Talmud has also been reprinted by the American Jewish Publication Society, Special Series No. 3 (Philadelphia, 1897).