Dr. Estiphan Panoussi, Professor of Linguistics
Dr. Estiphan Panoussi (born September 11, 1935, Sanandaj, Iran) is an internationally recognized scholar of philosophy, Semitic and Oriental languages, and Neo-Aramaic studies, with an academic career spanning over five decades across Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Raised multilingual (Senaya Neo-Aramaic, Kurdish, Persian), he pursued early religious and philosophical education in Iran, Iraq, Italy, and the Vatican, earning a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy summa cum laude in Rome before undertaking advanced theological studies. In 1959, he redirected his vocation toward academic philosophy and linguistics, studying in Belgium and Germany. He earned two Ph.D. degrees in Philosophy, culminating in his landmark dissertation La Notion de Participation dans la Philosophie d’Avicenne (Université Catholique de Louvain, 1967).
Dr. Panoussi held teaching and research appointments at major European universities, including Giessen, Marburg, and Berlin, where he served as Wissenschaftlicher Assistent and taught Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and medieval philosophy. His work contributed significantly to Aristotelian and Avicennian studies, including critical work on the Arabic Rhetoric of Aristotle.
From 1972 to 1978 and again after 1981, he taught at the University of Tehran, specializing in Ancient Syriac, Aramaic, Biblical Aramaic, Latin, and Italian. He later served as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Utah, collaborating on linguistic and translation projects, including a Persian translation of the Book of Mormon.
In Europe, he held a research and teaching appointment at the Catholic University of Eichstätt, where he advanced computer-assisted lexicography and laid the groundwork for a major Latin-Persian dictionary. In 1992, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where he taught advanced Arabic language, literature, and Qur’anic studies until his retirement in 2000.
A major focus of his later career was the Senaya Neo-Aramaic dialect, supported by a Swedish national research grant. This work resulted in three substantial volumes on Senaya texts, grammar, and lexicography, now considered foundational in the field. After retirement, he continued research as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
Since 2002, Dr. Panoussi has taught philosophy and world religions at Antelope Valley College in California, offering courses in ethics, logic, introductory philosophy, and comparative religion.
Core expertise:
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Ancient & Neo-Aramaic (Syriac, Senaya)
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Arabic, Persian, Latin, Hebrew, Greek
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Islamic & medieval philosophy (Avicenna, Aristotle)
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Comparative philosophy & linguistics
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Lexicography and historical linguistics