Louis Loewe

Louis Loewe (1809–1888) was a Silesian linguist.

He was born into a Jewish family at Zülz, Prussian Silesia. After attending Rosenburg Academy and the colleges of Lissa, Nikolsburg, and Presburg, he matriculated at the University of Berlin, where he took the degree of Ph.D.

On a visit to Hamburg he was given the task of arranging the oriental coins in the Sprewitz collection. Coming to London, he obtained introductions to the Duke of Sussex and Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, through whom he became known to scholars and patrons of learning in England. He visited Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris. In 1836 he undertook, under the auspices of the Duke of Sussex and Sir Sidney Smith, a three years' tour in the Middle East, to extend his knowledge of its languages. Near Safed, now in northern Israel, he was robbed by Druses, and continued his journey through Palestine in Bedouin dress. In 1839 the Duke of Sussex appointed Loewe his persona lecturer on the oriental tongues.

In 1839 Loewe went to study in the Vatican Library, and Sir Moses Montefiore passed through Rome on his second journey to the Palestine. Loewe had been Montefiore's guest, at Ramsgate in 1835, and he accepted an invitation to accompany Montefiore as his secretary. They struck up a long-lasting relationship. On the mission to Damascus and Constantinople in 1840, and on a dozen more journeys from 1839 to 1874, Loewe accompanied Montefiore. In 1840 he addressed a large mixed congregation in the synagogue at Galata in four languages. On 25 March 1841 he was presented by Montefiore to Queen Victoria.

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