ZAPLETAL, VINCENZ. - Dominican Hebraist and exegete, born at Vilimov (Moravia) on 15 Jan. 1867, died at Kemmelbach (Austria) on 21 Jan. 1938.
He entered the Order in 1883 and pursued complementary studies for two years at the Ecole biblique in Jerusalem under the direction of Fr. M.-J. Lagrange. From 1893 to 1929 he held the chair of Old Testament and Semitic languages and literatures at the University of Fribourg
(Switzerland). He was master in theology, doctor honoris causa of the Academy of Athens, a member of the R. Society of Sciences of Prague, and a corresponding member of the Bohemian Academy.
He acquired worldwide renown as a biblical scholar through his works: Hermeneutica Biblica (1897); Der Totemismus und die Religion Israels (1901); Grammatica linguae Hebraicae (1902; 3rd ed. 1921); Altstamentliches (1903); Das Buch Kohelet (1905); De poësi Hebraeorum (1909); Der Schöpfungsbericht der Genesis (1911); Das Buch der Richter (1923). He also wrote biblical novels: Der biblische Samson; Jephta's Tochter; David und Saul.
Pietro G. Duncker