BENFEY, THEODOR (1809-1881), German philologist, and Sanskrit scholar, born on Jan. 29, 1809. He published in 1848 his edition of the Samaveda; in 1852-54 his Manual of Sanskrit, comprising a grammar and chrestomathy; in 1858 his practical Sanskrit grammar, afterwards translated into English; and in 1859 his edition of the Panclia Tantra, with an extensive dissertation on the fables and mythologies of primitive nations. In 1862 he was appointed professor at Gottingen and in 1866 he published his great Sanskrit-English dictionary. In 1869 he wrote a history of German philological research, especially oriental, during the i9th century. He died while engaged on a grammar of Vedic Sanskrit.
A collection of his various writings was published in 189o, prefaced by a memoir by his son.