Prof. dr. H. (Holger) Gzella

Position:
  • Professor
Expertise:
  • Hebrew and Aramaic language and literature


Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 2255
E-Mail: h.gzella@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Leiden Institute for Area Studies, SMES Hebreeuws en Aramees
Office Address: Witte Singel-complex
Witte Singel 25/M. de Vrieshof 4
2311 BZ Leiden
Room number 2.01a

In search for the language of the bible

Research is always in motion and therefore very interesting. Unfortunately, we see only a small part of what's happening our country's many universities and research institutes. Fast Facts strives to make actual research visible and accessible.

Professor Holger Gzella created the following video clip in cooperation with De Jonge Akademie, to introduce his search for the language of the bible. You can view prof. Gzella's video clip here.

Research

The study of Hebrew and Aramaic is devoted to languages which have been used as a principal means of expression by a great number of different cultures from the Ancient Near East up to the present time. My approach to these and related idioms, as well as to the rich literatures written in them, applies ways of thinking informed by historical and comparative linguistics to straightforward grammar: I passionately try to broaden the horizon of conventional philology and to critically reflect upon its roots in the European grammatical tradition. More specifically, I am at the moment above all interested in verbal syntax, language change and phenomena of language contact, taking care to situate Classical Hebrew as well as the older varieties of Aramaic in their wider Semitic context.

CV

From 1993 to 1997, I studied Classics at Oxford University, but then switched to Semitics and Assyriology. I carried out graduate research on the Hebrew Bible at the University of Münster (1997-1999; PhD Fall Term 2000/1, summa cum laude) and on various Semitic languages at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (1999-2002; licentiate summer 2002, summa cum laude). Subsequently, I was awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship from the Thyssen Foundation in order to work at the University of Heidelberg (2002-2005). After temporarily replacing Otto Jastrow on the Chair of Semitic Philology at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Fall Term 2003/4), I completed my Habilitation (2004) on the interaction of tense, aspect, and modality in Imperial Aramaic and stayed on in Heidelberg as Privatdozent. In March 2005, I was appointed full professor at Leiden University and took the Chair of Hebrew and Aramaic.

Key publications

  • (2007) "Some Penciled Notes on Ugaritic Lexicography", Bibliotheca Orientalis 64, 527-567.
  • (2006) "Die Entstehung des Artikels im Semitischen. Eine 'phönizische' Perspektive", Journal of Semitic Studies 51, 1-18.
  • (2005) "Die Palmyrener in der griechisch-römischen Welt. Kulturelle Begegnung im Spiegel des Sprachkontaktes", KLIO 87, 445-458.
  • (2004) Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im Reichsaramäischen, Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz 48, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz (X+408pp.).
  • (2003) Cosmic Battle and Political Conflict. Studies in Verbal Syntax and Contextual Interpretation of Daniel 8, Biblica et Orientalia 47. Rome, Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico (XIV+188 pp.).
  • (2002) Lebenszeit und Ewigkeit. Studien zur Eschatologie und Anthropologie des Septuaginta-Psalters, Bonner Biblische Beiträge 134, Berlin, Philo (434 pp.).

Teaching

I teach various phases of Hebrew and Aramaic on all levels, courses on the historical-comparative grammar of the Semitic languages, and the history of Syria-Palestine in antiquity.

LUCL Office
Last Modified: 27-09-2011