James Curtis Hepburn Article Index for
James Curtis
Website Links For
James
 

Information About

James Curtis Hepburn




James Curtis Hepburn ( 13 March 181511 June 1911 ) was born in Milton, Pennsylvania . He attended Princeton and Pennsylvania universities and became a Doctor . He decided to go to Siam (later changing to China ) as a medical missionary, but had to stay in Singapore for two years as the Opium War was under way and Chinese ports were closed to foreigners. After five years as a missionary, he returned to the United States (in 1845) and opened a medical practice in New York City .

In 1859, he decided to go to ) developed.) He also began compiling a Japanese-English dictionary, which was first published in 1867 . The third edition of his dictionary, published in 1887 , used a revised form of Japanese romanization devised by a society of enthusiasts for writing Japanese in the Latin alphabet. This form of romanization is now known as Hepburn Romanization , and it is often mistakenly said that Hepburn ''invented'' it; he is, however, largely responsible for ''popularizing'' it. He also contributed to the translation of the Bible into Japanese. Hepburn returned to the US in 1892 , and died in East Orange , New Jersey in September of 1911 at the age of 96.

Some of Hepburn's noted Japanese pupils include ).


SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS