The New International Encyclopædia/Weil, Gustav

WEIL, vīl, Gustav (1808-89). A German Semitic scholar. He was born at Sulzburg, Baden, studied at Heidelberg and Paris, and, after a five years' residence in the East, became connected with the library at Heidelberg. He was made professor of Oriental languages in the university in 1848. His more important publications include: Die poetische Litteratur der Araber (1837); the translation of the Thousand and One Nights (1837-41); Mohammed der Prophet (1843); Historisch-kritische Einleitung in den Koran (1844); Geschichte der Chalifen (1846-51); Geschichte des Abbassidenchalifats in Aegypten (1860-62); Das Leben Mohammeds nach Mohammed Ibn Ishak bearbeitet von Abd el Malik Ibn Hischam (1864); Geschichte der islamitischen Völker von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des Sultams Selim (1866).