Jones, Sir William, 1746–94, English philologist and jurist. Jones was celebrated for his understanding of jurisprudence and of Oriental languages. He published an Essay on the Law of Bailments (1781), widely used in America as well as in England. For 11 years he was a supreme court judge in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal at Calcutta. Through the Society, as well as through his publications, he had a great influence on literature, Asian study, and philology in Western Europe. Jones was the first to suggest that Sanskrit originated from the same source as Latin and Greek, thus laying the foundation for modern comparative philology.

Bibliography

See his letters, ed. by G. Cannon (2 vol., 1970); study by S. N. Mukherjee (1987).

Jones, Sir William

(born Sept. 28, 1746, London, Eng.—died April 27, 1794, Calcutta) British orientalist, linguist, and jurist. He completed an authoritative Grammar of the Persian Language in 1771. For financial reasons he then turned to the study and practice of law. His Moallakât, a translation of seven famous Arabic odes, was published in 1782, and the following year he was knighted and sailed for Calcutta (now Kolkata) as judge of the Supreme Court. He founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal to encourage Asian studies and published scholarly works on Hindu and Muslim law. His proposition (1786) that there was a common source for languages ranging from Celtic to Sanskrit led to recognition of the Indo-European language family.