K. R. Norman (1925-2020) 巴利文獻學的偉大學者諾曼博士去世

第二

中文翻译来自蘇錦坤


親愛的諸位同事:


  我通知各位此一哀傷的消息，K.R. Norman 諾曼博士已經去世，享年九十五歲。


  Norman 諾曼是在「中古雅利安-印度文獻學」領域的偉大學者，他的整個學術生涯幾乎是全部在劍橋大學度過。他於 1954年在劍橋大學得到碩士學位，1954–1978年擔任「印度研究」的講師，1978–1990年擔任「印度研究」的 "Reader"，1990 年擔任「印度研究」的教授，1992 年退休。


他對巴利文獻研究領域的學術貢獻相當浩瀚，他的研究成果也涵蓋耆那教研究與阿育王碑銘研究。他出版的學術書籍包含主要的以偈頌為主的巴利經典


1)        Elders’ Verses I (Theragāthā), 1969; 《長老偈 I》


2)        Elders’ Verses II (Therīgāthā), 1971; 《長老偈 II》(《長老尼偈》)


3)        The Group of Discourses (Suttanipāta), 1992, 2nd ed. 2001; 《經集》


4)        The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada), 1997; 《法句經》


每一本翻譯都附有經細而一絲不苟的註解。


他也出版了兩本重要的學術專著：


1)         Pāli Literature (1983) 《巴利文獻》


2)        A Philological Approach to Buddhism (1997; 2nd edition 2006), 《佛教文獻學十講》


另外在 PTS 出版了八巨冊的《諾曼博士論文集》 Collected Papers (1990–2007)。他也在 1981 - 1990 年間擔任《巴利精審字典》(A Critical Pāli Dictionary), 的編輯，並且出版了其中的七冊。 seven fascicles (11–17) of vol. II.


他是英國學術院的院士，以及皇家丹麥人文與科學院的外國院士，同時他也也是巴利聖典學會理事會任期最久的理事成員，並在 1981–1994 年間擔任理事長。


如果說，所有在「中古雅利安-印度語言」領域的工作者都會長久對他感恩，這樣的說詞應該沒有問題。

深深祝福大家

Rupert Gethin
University of Bristol
[email protected]


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Dear Colleagues,


I write with the sad news of the death of K.R. Norman, who has died at the age of 95.


Roy or Mr Norman, as he liked to be known, was one of the great scholars of Middle Indo-Aryan philology. His academic career was spent almost entirely in Cambridge. He completed an MA at Cambridge in 1954 and went on to become Lecturer in Indian Studies (1954–1978), then Reader in Indian Studies (1978–1990), before being appointed Professor of Indian Studies in 1990, shortly before his retirement in 1992.


His scholarly contribution to the field of Pali studies has been immense, but his output covered also Jaina studies and the Ashokan inscriptions. His publications include translations of the major verse texts of the Pali canon: Elders’ Verses I (Theragāthā), 1969; Elders’ Verses II (Therīgāthā), 1971; The Group of Discourses (Suttanipāta), 1992, 2nd ed. 2001; The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada), 1997; each of these translations includes meticulous philological annotations.


He also published two significant monographs, Pāli Literature (1983) and A Philological Approach to Buddhism (1997; 2nd edition 2006), and leaves behind eight volumes of his Collected Papers (1990–2007). From 1981 to 1990 he was editor of A Critical Pāli Dictionary, overseeing the publication of seven fascicles (11–17) of vol. II.


As well as being a Fellow of the British Academy and a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, he was the longest serving member of the Council of the Pali Text Society (1959–2010) and also served as its President (1981–1994).


It is safe to say that all those who work on ancient texts in middle Indian languages will remain deeply indebted to his work for a long time to come.

With best wishes,

Rupert Gethin
University of Bristol
[email protected]