born Sept. 28, 1746, London, Eng.
died April 27, 1794, Calcutta
British orientalist, linguist, and jurist.
He completed an authoritative Grammar of the Persian Language in 1771. For financial reasons he then turned to the study and practice of law. His Moallakât , a translation of seven famous Arabic odes, was published in 1782, and the following year he was knighted and sailed for Calcutta (now Kolkata) as judge of the Supreme Court. He founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal to encourage Asian studies and published scholarly works on Hindu and Muslim law. His proposition (1786) that there was a common source for languages ranging from Celtic to Sanskrit led to recognition of the Indo-European language family.