Burnouf, JEAN LOUIS

Burnouf, JEAN LOUIS, French philologist, born at Urville, 14th September 1775, became professor of Rhetoric at the Collège de France in 1817, and subsequently in succession inspector of the university, general director of studies, and librarian. Elected a member in 1836 of the Académie des Inscriptions, he died at Paris, 8th May 1844. He was the author of grammars of Greek and Latin, which have gone through numerous editions, as well as an excellent translation of Tacitus.—EUGENE, a great orientalist, son of the preceding, born at Paris, 1st April 1801. He first studied law, but soon devoted himself, under Abel Rémusat and Chézy, to the oriental languages, especially those of India and Persia. In 1832 he became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, and in the same year succeeded to Chézy's chair of Sanskrit at the Collège de France, which he filled until his death, at Paris, 28th May 1852. His first works were his Essai sur le Pali (1826), written in conjunction with Lassen of Bonn, and Observations Grammaticales sur quelques Passages de l'Essai sur le Pali (1827). His next task was the deciphering of the Zend manuscripts brought to France by Anquetil Duperron. He commenced by publishing a splendid lithographed edition of the Vendidad-Sadé, the most important part of the Zendavesta (1829–43), and published from time to time in the Journal Asiatique the brilliant results of his laborious studies, to the admiration of the learned world. His Commentaire sur le Yagna (1833), a masterpiece of lucidity and erudition, first revealed the language and doctrine of Zoroaster to the western world. He next made an attempt to decipher the cuneiform inscriptions of Persepolis, in his Mémoire sur deux Inscriptions Cuneiformes (1836). Here, however, the later discoveries of Lassen, Holtzmann, Oppert, and others, have shown that his Zend studies hindered him to some extent in deciphering, for relying on Zend analogies he assumed too many signs for vowels, and did not leave enough for consonants. In 1840 he published the text, along with a translation, of the Bhāgavata Purāna, a system of Indian mythology and tradition. As the fruit of six years' study of the Sanskrit books of the Buddhists, sent by Hodgson to Europe from Nepal, appeared in 1844 his Introduction à l'Histoire du Bouddhisme, an epoch-making work in the history of that great Asian religion. His last work was a translation of Le Lotus de bonne Loi, which was passing through the press at the time of his death. Among Burnouf's pupils were Max Müller, Goldstücker, Gorresio, and Néve.—EMILE LOUIS, also an eminent orientalist, nephew of Jean Louis Burnouf, born at Valognes, 25th August 1821, lectured on ancient literature at Nancy, and was for a time director of the French school at Athens. His works include Méthode pour étudier la Langue Sanscrit (1859, 3d ed. 1885), Essai sur le Védā (1863), Dictionnaire Classique Sanscrit-Français (1863–65), Histoire de la Littérature Grecque (1869), La Science des Religions (1872), La Ville et l'Acropole d'Athènes aux diverses Époques (1877), La Mythologie des Japonais (1878), Mémoires sur l'Antiquité (1879), and Le Catholicisme Contemporaine (1879).