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Aloys Sprenger (born 3 September 1813, inNassereith,Tyrol; died 19 December 1893 inHeidelberg) was anAustrianOrientalist.
Sprenger studied medicine,natural sciences as well as oriental languages at theUniversity of Vienna. In 1836 he moved to London, where he worked with theEarl of Munster on the latter'sGeschichte der Kriegswissenschaften bei den mohammedanischen Völkern, ‘History of Military Science among the Muslim Peoples’, and thence in 1843 toCalcutta, where he became principal ofDelhi College. In this capacity he had many textbooks translated intoHindustani from European languages.
In 1848 he was sent toLucknow, to prepare a catalogue of the royal library there, the first volume of which appeared in Calcutta in 1854. This book, with its lists of Persian poets, its careful description of all the chief works of Persian poetry and its valuable biographical material, became a worthy guide for the exploration ofPersian literature.
In 1850 Sprenger was named examiner, official government interpreter, and secretary of theAsiatic Society of Calcutta. He published many works while holding this latter position, among them "Dictionary of the Technical terms used in the sciences of the Musulmans" (1854) and "Ibn Hajar's biographical dictionary of persons who knew Mohammed" (1856).
Sprenger took a position as professor of oriental languages at theUniversity of Bern in 1857, moving in 1881 toHeidelberg. His voluminous collection of Arabic, Persian, Hindustani and other manuscripts and printed material was eventually acquired by theBerlin State Library.
