Objective: This article examines the intellectual and institutional origins of academic Oriental studies in early modern Europe and seeks to address a gap in critical studies of Orientalism, which have largely focused on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The central question of the study is whether “Oriental studies” can be considered a relatively coherent field of knowledge prior to the nineteenth century. Methodology: The article consists of two main layers. The first layer, which constitutes the major part of the study, involves the translation, analytical summary, and critical rereading of Daniel Stolzenberg’s argument. This part is based on Stolzenberg’s bibliometric and historical analysis of works related to the concept of “Oriental languages” during the period 1450–1750. The second layer presents the author’s independent analysis in the sections on theoretical critique, comparison with the Islamic tradition, academic Orientalism, and Islamic studies, drawing on the works of Marchand, Irwin, and Rubiés, as well as primary Islamic sources. Findings:The findings demonstrate that during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, what later became known as “Orientalism” was primarily constituted as “Oriental philology,” centered on the study and teaching of languages such as Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean, and Arabic. The Protestant universities of Germany and the Netherlands played a crucial role in developing the disciplinary self-consciousness that shaped the epistemic foundations of modern Orientalism and Islamic studies. Conclusion:The results indicate that modern Orientalism had its intellectual and institutional roots in European academic traditions of Oriental language studies and philology before the nineteenth century. These developments provided the epistemic foundation for the emergence of modern Orientalism and Islamic studies.
Afzali, K., & Shams, F. (2025). Challenging neoliberalism: Iranian EFL instructors’ strategies for alternative English pedagogies. Journal of Foreign Language Research, 15(3), 261–276.https://doi.org/10.22059/jflr.2025.399911.1230
Ganjali, A., & Salmani Haghighi, M. (2025). Reading the text’s possible world in the translation of two novels “Black Suits You” and “The Kingdom of Strangers” based on Umberto Eco’s theory. Journal of Foreign Language Research, 15(3), 212–227.https://jflr.ut.ac.ir/
jazare, S. (2026). "Eastern Languages and the Origins of Academic Orientalism: Translation, Critique, and Analysis of Daniel Stolzenberg's Perspective". Journal of Foreign Language Research, 16(3), 327-339. https://doi.org/10.22059/jflr.2026.410041.1273
MLA
jazare, S. ""Eastern Languages and the Origins of Academic Orientalism: Translation, Critique, and Analysis of Daniel Stolzenberg's Perspective"", Journal of Foreign Language Research, 16, 3, 2026, 327-339. doi: 10.22059/jflr.2026.410041.1273
HARVARD
jazare S. (2026). '"Eastern Languages and the Origins of Academic Orientalism: Translation, Critique, and Analysis of Daniel Stolzenberg's Perspective"', Journal of Foreign Language Research, 16(3), pp. 327-339. doi: 10.22059/jflr.2026.410041.1273
CHICAGO
S. jazare, ""Eastern Languages and the Origins of Academic Orientalism: Translation, Critique, and Analysis of Daniel Stolzenberg's Perspective"," Journal of Foreign Language Research, 16 3 (2026): 327-339, doi: 10.22059/jflr.2026.410041.1273
VANCOUVER
jazare S. "Eastern Languages and the Origins of Academic Orientalism: Translation, Critique, and Analysis of Daniel Stolzenberg's Perspective". JFLR. 2026;16(3):327-339 (In Persian). doi: 10.22059/jflr.2026.410041.1273
