I have just received news that Prof. Dr. Takamitsu Muraoka died yesterday, 10 February. He passed away peacefully in his sleep, just one day after his 88th birthday. According to an announcement by Dr. Martin F. J. Baasten through the Agade listserv, Muraoka suffered a stroke on Christmas morning, the same day on which his wife Keiko passed away, and he never fully recovered.

Prof. Muraoka studied under Prof. M. Sekine at Tokyo Kyoiku University and under Prof. Chaim M. Rabin at the University of Jerusalem, completing his doctoral degree in 1970. Muraoka has taught at institutions around the world, including the Universities of Manchester (1970–80), Melbourne (1980–91), and Leiden (1991–2003). He was an honorary fellow of the Academy of the Hebrew Language (2006), fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities (1984), and received the Burkitt Medal from the British Academy (2017).

Muraoka is best known for his work in Semitic languages. Preeminent among his publications in this area is his revised and updated edition of P. Joüon’s grammar of Biblical Hebrew (2006). He wrote a wide array of other influential works, including linguistic studies and grammars for Classical Syriac, Modern Hebrew, and Egyptian and Qumran Aramaic. Of course, Muraoka also made major contributions to the study of Greek, specifically the language of the Septuagint corpus, including a lexicon and syntax (also here plus response).

I am certain that many tributes to Muraoka will appear in the coming days and weeks, and fittingly so. His contribution to biblical studies was truly unparalleled in recent generations. Almost exactly eight years ago I posted an interview with him, which you can read here.