Albert Socin


Albert Socin was a Swiss orientalist, who specialized in the research of Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish and contemporary Arabic dialects. He also made contributions to the geography, archaeology, religion, art and literature of the Middle East.
He studied philology at the University of Basel and Oriental studies at the universities of Göttingen and Leipzig, receiving his habilitation for Oriental languages in 1871 at Basel. In 1873 he became an associate professor, then from 1876 to 1890 served as a full professor of Semitic languages at the University of Tübingen. From 1890 up until his death in 1899, he was a professor of Oriental languages at the University of Leipzig.
In 1868–70, with Eugen Prym, he carried out language research in the Levant and Iraq, then in 1873 returned to the Middle East on behalf of the Baedeker publishing firm. He was a founding member of the Deutschen Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas.

Selected works


File:Palestine and Syria - with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia - handbook for travellers .jpg|Northern Palestine
File:Palestine and Syria - with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia - handbook for travellers .jpg|Ancient Jerusalem
File:Palestine and Syria with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia; handbook for travellers; .jpg|Northern Lebanon
File:Palestine and Syria with the chief routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia; handbook for travellers; .jpg|Highland of Judea