William Guise (Guilelmus Guisius) (c.1653–1683), was an English orientalist.

Life

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He was the son of John Guise from a family originating at Elmore Court near Gloucester.[1]

He went to Oriel College, Oxford, in 1669 at age 16.[2] He graduated BA in 1674 and was then made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, from 1674 to 1680, being granted an MA in 1677.[3] He spent the last years of his life in St Mary's College, Oxford.[4]

He died of smallpox on 3 September 1683. His tomb in the college chancel of St Michael's Church in Oxford was sculpted by William Bird.[5]

Family

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His wife Frances Guise outlived him. They had a son John Guise and daughter Frances Guise.[6]

Works

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He is known for his scholarly work on Zeraim, an order of the Mishnah, for which he produced a Latin translation and commentary. He made use of a wide range of Islamic literature, and particularly relied on the Arabic dictionaries of Fairuzabadi and Jauhari.[3][7][8] It was published as Misnae Pars (1690), edited by Edward Bernard.

References

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  1. ^ ODNB; William Guise
  2. ^ Anthony à Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, vol. IV (1813, third edition edited by Philip Bliss)
  3. ^ a b Concise Dictionary of National Biography
  4. ^ R.W. Jeffrey, A Forgotten College of Oxford.
  5. ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis
  6. ^ ODNB: William Guise
  7. ^ Mordechai Feingold, Oriental Studies, p. 493 in Trevor Henry Aston, Nicholas Tyacke (editors), The History of the University of Oxford: Volume IV: Seventeenth-Century Oxford (1984).
  8. ^ Joyce M. Horn, Canons of Christ Church: Sixth prebend, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857: volume 8: Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough dioceses (1996), pp. 100–102.