Hancock Professor of Hebrew
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The Hancock Chair of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages is an endowed chair at Harvard University in the US. The execution of the will of Thomas Hancock (merchant), uncle to John Hancock, in 1764 at a salary of £1000 established the chair.[1] Unlike prior endowed chairs, the money for the endowed professorship came from a merchant born in the American colonies.[2] It is the third oldest endowed chair in the United States and the first professorship dedicated to study of Semitic languages like Hebrew and Arabic. The Hancock Chair is the third oldest endowed professorship at Harvard University.[3]