Arminius Vambery
| Ármin Vámbéry | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
19 March 1832 Szentgyörgy, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Svätý Jur, Slovakia) |
| Died | 15 September 1913 (aged 81) Budapest, Austria-Hungary |
| Occupation | Turkologist, orientalist, traveller |
Ármin Vámbéry, also known as Arminius Vámbéry (19 March 1832 – 15 September 1913), was a Hungarian Turkologist and traveller.
Vámbéry was born as Hermann Bamberger or Ármin Bamberger was born in Szentgyörgy, Kingdom of Hungary (now Svätý Jur, part of Slovakia), into a poor Jewish family. According to Ernst Pawel, a biographer of Theodor Herzl, as well as Tom Reiss, a biographer of Kurban Said, Vámbéry's original last name was Wamberger rather than Bamberger. He was raised Jewish, but later became an atheist. Vámbéry was 1 year old when his father died and the family moved to Dunaszerdahely (now Dunajská Streda in Slovakia). He attended the local school until the age of 12 and showed a remarkable aptitude for learning languages. He was forced to walk with crutches because of a congenital disorder and eventually had to leave school due to difficult financial circumstances. He worked briefly as a tailor's assistant, but after becoming tutor to the son of the village innkeeper, he was enabled by his friends to enter the "Untergymnasium" of Szentgyörgy.
By the age of sixteen, he had a good knowledge of Hungarian, Latin, French, and German. He was also rapidly acquiring English, the Scandinavian languages, Russian, Serbian, and naturally other Slavic languages.
In 1846, he went to Pressburg (today Bratislava, Hungarian: Pozsony), where he remained three years. Later he studied at Vienna, Kecskemét, and Budapest.
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