Sievers, Eduard°

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SIEVERS, EDUARD°

SIEVERS, EDUARD ° (1850–1932), Germanist, linguist, and student of classical Hebrew poetry. Sievers taught at Jena (1871), Tuebingen (1883), Halle (1887), and Leipzig (1892). In addition to his many important works in the field of Germanic studies, Sievers published contributions to New Testament studies. His main research in the area of Hebraica was on the interpretation of the metrical structure of biblical Hebrew poetry; the results of these efforts were published as Metrische Studien (4 vols., 1901–19). In this important work, he helped pioneer the proper understanding of Hebrew accentuation and elegiac verse, and was the first to introduce the anapaest as a metrical principle in understanding Hebrew rhythm.

[Zev Garber]