astronomy

Hans Jakob Polotsky

Hans Jakob Polotsky is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hans Jakob Polotsky rather than just read about it. In short: Hans Jakob Polotsky (Hebrew: הנס יעקב פולוצקי; also Hans Jacob Polotsky, Hans Jakob Polotzky; 13 September 1905 – 10 August 1991) was an Israeli orientalist, linguist, and professor of Semitic languages and Egyptology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Polotsky was born in Zürich, Switzerland, as the son of a Belarusian Jewish couple.

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Reference excerpt

Hans Jakob Polotsky (Hebrew: הנס יעקב פולוצקי; also Hans Jacob Polotsky, Hans Jakob Polotzky; 13 September 1905 – 10 August 1991) was an Israeli orientalist, linguist, and professor of Semitic languages and Egyptology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Biography Polotsky was born in Zürich, Switzerland, as the son of a Belarusian Jewish couple. He grew up in Berlin and studied Egyptology and Semitics at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen. From 1926 to 1931 he was a co-worker of the Septuaginta-Unternehmen of the Academy of Sciences at Göttingen. In 1929 he received his Ph.D. degree for the dissertation Zu den Inschriften der 11. Dynastie. He worked in Berlin editing Coptic Manichaean texts from 1933 till 1934, with the Church historian Carl Schmidt. He left Germany in 1935 and settled in Mandate Palestine, where he taught and researched at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, becoming professor in 1948. In 1953 he founded the Linguistics department there and later served as the dean of the Faculty of Humanities. He died in Jerusalem. His main achievement was the Études de syntaxe copte published in 1944 which fundamentally changed the scientific view of the syntax of the Coptic and earlier ancient Egyptian languages. Polotsky's theory of the Egyptian verb (a particularly delicate argument, since Egyptians distinguished their different verb forms mainly by the vocalizations, and vowels were not written) had so much success that it has been called the Standard Theory. In Berlin, Polotsky had been a student of the famous egyptologist Kurt Heinrich Sethe; in Jerusalem, one of his students was Miriam Lichtheim, known for her extensive translations of ancient Egyptian texts.

Awards In 1962, Polotsky received the Rothschild Prize In 1966, he was awarded the Israel Prize in the humanities. In 1982, he received the Harvey Prize.

Publications (with: Carl Schmidt) Ein Mani-Fund in Ägypten, Original-Schriften des Mani und seiner Schüler. Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften 1933. "Manichäische Studien", in: Le Muséon 46, 1933, pp. 247–271. (ed.) Manichäische Homilien. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer 1934. Manichäische Handschriften der Staatlichen Museen Berlin, W. Kohlhammer Stuttgart: 1935 "Études de grammaire gouragué", in: Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris 39, 1938, pp. 137–175 Études de syntaxe copte, Publications de la Société d'Archéologie Copte. Le Caire, 1944 "Notes on Gurage grammar", Israel Oriental Society, No. 2, 1951 "Syntaxe amharique et syntaxe turque", in: Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Etiopici, Roma (Acc. Naz. dei Lincei) 1960:, pp. 117–121 "Studies in Modern Syriac", in Journal of Semitic Studies 6, 1961, pp. 1–32 "Aramaic, Syriac, and Ge'ez", in: Journal of Semitic Studies 9, 1964, pp. 1–10 "Egyptian Tenses", The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Vol. II, No. 5. 1965 E.Y. Kutscher (ed.), Collected Papers by H.J. Polotsky Magnes Press, Jerusalem 1971 "Les transpositions du verbe en égyptien classique", in Israel Oriental Studies 6, 1976, pp. 1–50 "A Point of Arabic Syntax: The Indirect Attribute", in Israel Oriental Studies 8, 1978, pp. 159–174. "Verbs with two Objects in Modern Syriac (Urmi)", in Israel Oriental Studies 9, 1979, pp. 204–227. Grundlagen des koptischen Satzbaus, Scholars Press, Decatur, Ga., 1987, ISBN 1-55540-076-0 "Incorporation in Modern Syriac", in G. Goldenberg & Sh. Raz (eds.), Semitic and Cushitic studies. Harrassowitz Wiesbaden 1994, pp. 90–102. "Notes on Neo-Syriac Grammar", in Israel Oriental Studies 16, 1996, pp. 11–48.

See also List of Israel Prize recipients

References

Further reading Erdal, M. (1994). "Hans Jakob Polotsky (1905-1991) : an appreciation", in: Mediterranean language review, 8, pp. 1–9. [1] Hopkins, S. (1992/3). "H.J. Polotsky 1905-1991", in: Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 34, pp. 115–125. [2] Osing, J. (1993). "Hans Jakob Polotsky: 13. September 1905 - 10. August 1991", in: Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 120/1, pp. iii-v. Shisha-Halevy, Ariel (1992). "In memoriam Hans Jakob Polotsky (1905-1991)", in: Orientalia (nova series) 61, pp. 208–213. Shisha-Halevy, Ariel (2006). "H. J. Polotsky Structuralist", in: After Polotsky: Proceedings of the Colloquium, Bad Honnef, September 2005 (Lingua Aegyptia 14), pp. 1–8. Shisha-Halevy, Ariel & Goldenberg, Gideon (2007). "H. J. Polotsky", in: Lexicon Grammaticorum, 2nd ed., (ed. H. Stammerjohann). Shivtiel, A. (1994). "Polotsky Hans (Hayyim) Jacob (1905-91)", in: The encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Pergamon, vol. 6, pp. 3226–3227 Ullendorff, Edward (ed.; 1992). H.J. Polotsky (1905-1991): Ausgewählte Briefe (Äthiopistische Forschungen, Band 34). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-06066-9 Ullendorff, Edward (1994). "H.J. Polotsky (1905-1991): Linguistic Genius", in: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3, 4, 1, pp. 3–13. [=E. Ullendorff, From Emperor Haile Selassie to H.J. Polotsky. Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden 1995, pp. 165–175]

External links Publications access, Hans Jacob Polotsky Hebrew University page

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hans Jakob Polotsky

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hans Jakob Polotsky claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hans Jakob Polotsky before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hans Jakob Polotsky ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hans Jakob Polotsky

In research: Hans Jakob Polotsky appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hans Jakob Polotsky in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hans Jakob Polotsky is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1905 births, 1991 deaths, 20th-century Israeli linguists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hans Jakob Polotsky outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Hans Jakob Polotsky in simple terms?

Why does Hans Jakob Polotsky matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

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Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

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It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hans Jakob Polotsky.