Talk:William Jones (philologist)

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Question[edit]

Can the apostrophes be removed from the word "eastern" in the final paragraph, or the word replaced? 70.57.139.181 (talk) 04:38, 18 March 2005

Jones and Comparative Method[edit]

I've deleted the statement that Jones' work was an instance of the comparative method. The fact is, we don't know much about his methodology since he never gave much more than conclusions in his anniversary discourses. He doesn't present his evidence and he doesn't discuss his methodology even in general terms. There is no evidence that he ever established sound correspondances or that he had any real idea of the role of morphology.Bill 18:12, 16 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

tutoring job[edit]

The article has been changed to say that Jones tutored "seven-year-old Lord Althorp, son of Earl Spencer ". Lord Althorp would have been seven in 1789. Either this para is out of order or it was Spencer who was tutored as the article used to say. Does anyone have any info or thoughts on this? Cjrother 03:49, 14 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've changed that back now. --Cjrother 21:38, 22 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wrongly. John Spencer (1734-83) was created first Earl Spencer and Viscount Althorp in 1765. Therefore his son and heir, George John Spencer (1758-1834) bore the courtesy title of Viscount Althorp from the time of this creation (when he was indeed seven, and tutored by W.J.), until he inherited the earldom. It is his son (later the third Earl) who would have been seven in 1789 (by which time Jones was a judge in Calcutta). Лудольф (talk) 02:14, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Indiana Jones[edit]

Would it be prudent to mention that he was possibly the inspiration for the film star Indiana Jones?

Don't be silly. Paul B 08:35, 22 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing silly about etymology, just over-reliance on it - Indiana Jones#Models - Hakluyt bean 22:08, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology? I didn't know Indiana was a "film star". Paul B 22:35, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would say it's quite silly, particularly as Lucas has said that the original name for Indiana Jones was Indiana Smith, but they changed the name because some studio exec didn't think the name 'Smith' was catchy enough. Tomos ANTIGUA Tomos 16:34, 1 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bibliography[edit]

Anyone got one? Hakluyt bean 21:57, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You mean books about him? There's quite a few there already. There's also Trautmann's work. Or do you mean a list of his own pubications? His complete writings were published in 1807. Paul B 22:07, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Relevance[edit]

The remarks about the Algonquian languages are hardly relevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.158.174 (talk) 10:17, 13 September 2008 (UTC) Jonathan Edwards' remarks were probably added to show that Jones' work was not new. The Semitic group was mentioned much earlier. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.158.174 (talk) 10:48, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

POV & original research[edit]

This article is POV-y and contains original research/synthesis, some of which I have fixed inline. I've also just cut the following section of text as a consequence. Feel free to reinstate with sources.

As early as the mid-17th century Dutchman Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (1612–1653) and others had been aware that Ancient Persian belonged to the same language group as the European languages. Similarly, American colonist Jonathan Edwards Jr. published in 1787 a work where he demonstrated that the Algonquian languages across northeastern North America were related to each other, and so were the Iroquoian languages. Nevertheless, it was Jones' discovery that caught the imagination of later scholars and became the semi-mythical origin of modern historical and comparative linguistics.

In 1789 he was the first to translate the Abhijñānaśākuntalam, an Indian play (written in a mix of Sanskrit and Prakrit) into a Western language under the title of Sacontalá or The Fatal Ring; An Indian Drama by Cálidás (Kalidasa). He encouraged his colleague Charles Wilkins to make the first translation of the Bhagavad Gita into English.

Jones is also indirectly responsible for some of the sensibility of the poetry of the English Romantic movement (particularly that of Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge), as his translations of "eastern" poetical works were a source for that style.

His book on Hitopadesa can be found here

- Sitush (talk) 10:49, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Term "Indo-European"[edit]

Is there any attestation that W. Jones actually used the term "Indo-European" (languages) in regard of his findings? In the headlines I did not find such hint so far. HJJHolm (talk) 09:02, 28 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ramalocana[edit]

The spellings in Nagari and Brahmic scripts from India are based upon phonetic principles. It is not clear whether in the original phonetic script Ramalocana was Ramalochana or not because the letter c in Ramalocana in transliterated English could either mean k or s. In my view the spelling Ramalochana from the original seems likely. However, I have no intention of entering into a debate on this topic. Verbum Veritas (talk) 17:44, 21 October 2015 (UTC).[reply]

You may very well have a point, but this is an encyclopedia and takes its information from verifiable sources. Original research is not allowed. This is a source of irritation to me in relation to two other articles (on completely different subjects). In both cases I am pretty sure that what is generally accepted as the truth is inaccurate, but there are no published sources for the alternative versions. LynwoodF (talk) 19:16, 21 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The IAST c reads as "ch" (i.e. रामलोचना = IAST Rāmalocanā ). Shyamal (talk) 02:29, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the comments LynwoodF and thanks to Shyamal for IAST verification of spelling. In my opinion it would be appropriate to insert IAST spelling in brackets after Ramalocana. I do not know the method of inserting such spellings, I therefore request you Shyamal, if you agree with me, to insert IAST in brackets after Ramalocana in the main article. Verbum Veritas (talk) 18:00, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Marriage and personal life[edit]

Did he have any children? I am curious as to the effect (if any) that his obvious high IQ would have on his personal interaction with others. No signs of what we now call autism? Wythy (talk) 18:25, 4 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]