Th. Nöldeke (Theodor Nöldeke, 1836–1930) was a German orientalist, cited by Snouck Hurgronje alongside the Dutch scholar M. J. de Goeje for his contribution to the study of zars — the spirits whose “possession” of women is treated at length in Snouck Hurgronje’s discussion of the Achehnese burong. The reference occurs in a footnote to the description of the Achehnese burong, the malignant spirit believed to attack women in childbed, where Snouck Hurgronje compares the Achehnese phenomena with similar beliefs at Mekka and refers the reader to “my Mekka, vol. II, pp. 124 et seq.: also M. J. de Goeje and Th. Nöldeke in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. XLIV pp. 480 and 701.”
The Citation in Context
The burong of Achehnese superstition is described by Snouck Hurgronje as having much in common with the kunti or kuntianak of the Sundanese and the sundel bolong dreaded in parts of Java. Like the latter, the burong is conceived as a woman with a great hole in her back, showing the vital organs; many of them are believed to be the spirits of women who have led an unchaste life and come to an unhappy end. The resemblance to the Arabian Umm al-Subyan or qarinah — discussed by Snouck Hurgronje in his Mekka — is the bridge by which the comparison is carried back to the literature on spirit-possession in the Semitic world, and it is in this connection that de Goeje and Nöldeke are cited. Their contributions to the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (Vol. XLIV, 1890) form part of the comparative Orientalist literature on spirit-beliefs to which Snouck Hurgronje was indebted for his interpretation of Achehnese popular religion.
Place in Orientalist Scholarship
Nöldeke was one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century Semitic philology, known above all for his work on the Syriac and Arabic languages and on the history of the Qur’an. His citation, in a footnote on the burong, is a reminder of the breadth of the comparative frame within which Snouck Hurgronje worked: Achehnese beliefs about childbirth-spirits were not treated as an isolated curiosity, but were placed against a background drawn from Mekka, from the Malay world, and from the Semitic literatures studied by the great German and Dutch orientalists. The mention of Nöldeke, in short, marks the point at which a local Achehnese superstition enters the international scholarly conversation of the late nineteenth century.
Sources
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 3, 8.
See Also
- Snouck Hurgronje
- Burong
- Tuan Siti
- Mekka
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka journey (1884-1885)
- De Goeje
- Goldziher
- Stele of Teima
- Euting
- Huber
- Ibn Rasjid
- De Lostalot
- Strasbourg
- 24 November
- 5 August
- 1880
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.
Th. Nöldeke (Theodor Nöldeke, 1836–1930) was a German orientalist, cited by Snouck Hurgronje alongside the Dutch scholar M. J. de Goeje for his contribution to the study of zars — the spirits whose “possession” of women is treated at length in Snouck Hurgronje’s discussion of the Achehnese burong. The reference occurs in a footnote to the description of the Achehnese burong, the malignant spirit believed to attack women in childbed, where Snouck Hurgronje compares the Achehnese phenomena with similar beliefs at Mekka and refers the reader to “my Mekka, vol. II, pp. 124 et seq.: also M. J. de Goeje and Th. Nöldeke in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. XLIV pp. 480 and 701.”
The Citation in Context
The burong of Achehnese superstition is described by Snouck Hurgronje as having much in common with the kunti or kuntianak of the Sundanese and the sundel bolong dreaded in parts of Java. Like the latter, the burong is conceived as a woman with a great hole in her back, showing the vital organs; many of them are believed to be the spirits of women who have led an unchaste life and come to an unhappy end. The resemblance to the Arabian Umm al-Subyan or qarinah — discussed by Snouck Hurgronje in his Mekka — is the bridge by which the comparison is carried back to the literature on spirit-possession in the Semitic world, and it is in this connection that de Goeje and Nöldeke are cited. Their contributions to the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (Vol. XLIV, 1890) form part of the comparative Orientalist literature on spirit-beliefs to which Snouck Hurgronje was indebted for his interpretation of Achehnese popular religion.
Place in Orientalist Scholarship
Nöldeke was one of the towering figures of nineteenth-century Semitic philology, known above all for his work on the Syriac and Arabic languages and on the history of the Qur’an. His citation, in a footnote on the burong, is a reminder of the breadth of the comparative frame within which Snouck Hurgronje worked: Achehnese beliefs about childbirth-spirits were not treated as an isolated curiosity, but were placed against a background drawn from Mekka, from the Malay world, and from the Semitic literatures studied by the great German and Dutch orientalists. The mention of Nöldeke, in short, marks the point at which a local Achehnese superstition enters the international scholarly conversation of the late nineteenth century.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.