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Concept
Alexander Murray (linguist)
Summary
Alexander Murray FRSE FSA (Scot) (1775 – 15 April 1813) was a Scottish minister, philologist, linguist and professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages at Edinburgh University (1812).
Murray was born on 22 October 1775, at Dunkitterick, Kirkcudbrightshire, where his father, Robert Murray, was a shepherd and farm labourer. His first language was Galwegian Gaelic.
Up until 1792, he had had little more than a year at school, but was self-taught in languages, and had worked as a tutor as well as a shepherd. He translated Arnold Drackenburg's German lectures on Roman authors, and when he visited Dumfries with his version in 1794, after unsuccessfully offering it to two separate publishers, he met Robert Burns, who gave him advice.
The father of Robert Heron lent Murray books, and James M'Harg, a literary pedlar from Edinburgh, proposed that Murray should visit the university authorities. His parish minister, J. G. Maitland of Minnigaff, gave him an introductory letter to Principal George Husband Baird, which led to an examination. Admitted to Edinburgh University as a deserving student, Murray won his way in class and by private teaching. Completing the course, he became a licentiate of the church of Scotland.
Murray early formed the acquaintance of John Leyden, and among his friends were Robert Anderson, Henry Brougham, Francis Jeffrey, Thomas Brown, and Thomas Campbell. In 1806, Murray was appointed assistant to James Murehead parish minister of Urr, Kirkcudbrightshire, whom he succeeded on his death in 1808.
In 1811 Murray translated, with approbation, a letter for George III, brought home by Henry Salt the Abyssinian envoy. It was from the Tigray Region, where Tigrinya is spoken. On 13 August 1811, Murray wrote to the publisher Archibald Constable that he had mastered the Lappish tongue. In July 1812, after a sharp contest involving some bitterness of feeling, Murray was appointed professor of oriental languages in Edinburgh University, with support from Salt and Constable. He received from the university on 17 July the degree of doctor of divinity.
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