Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The first mention ever of the word Orientalist

According to A.J. Arberry (one of my favorite Orientalists, and as you know that there is a number of Orientalists that I favor and learn from, notwithstanding disagreements):  "The original connotation of the term orientalist was, in 1863, "a member of the Eastern or Greek Church": in 1691 Anthony Wood described Samuel Clark as "an eminent Orientalian," meaning that he knew some oriental languages.  Byron in his notes to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage speaks of "Mr. Thornoton's frequent hints of profound Orientalism". During the educational controversy in India which was settled by Macaulay's celebrated Minute of 1834, the Orientalists were those who advocated Indian learning and literature..."  From British Orientalists.