Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy | |
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Linguist, Orientalist, Councillor |
Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy (French:
Life and works
Early life
Silvestre de Sacy was born in Paris to a
Philological studies
In 1781 he was appointed councillor in the
During this interval Sacy studied the religion of the
- Grammaire arabe (2 vols., 1st ed. 1810)
- Chrestomathie arabe (3 vols., 1806)
- Anthologie grammaticale (1829)
In 1806 he added the duties of Persian professor to his old chair, and from this time onwards his life was one of increasing honour and success, broken only by a brief period of retreat during the Hundred Days.[4]
Public offices and memberships
He was perpetual secretary of the
Egyptian hieroglyphics research
Silvestre de Sacy was the first Frenchman to attempt to read the
From 1807 to 1809, Sacy was also a teacher of Jean-François Champollion, whom he encouraged in his research.[7]
But later on, the relationship between the master and student became chilly. In no small measure, Champollion's
In 1811, Étienne Marc Quatremère, also a student of Sacy, published his Mémoires géographiques et historiques sur l'Égypte… sur quelques contrées voisines.
There was some rivalry between Champollion and Quatremère. Champollion published a paper in 1814 that covered some of the same territory. The allegations then arose that Champollion had plagiarized the work of Quatremère. Silvestre de Sacy seemed to take the side of Quatremère, according to Champollion.[9]
There was also considerable rivalry between Champollion and Thomas Young, an English Egyptology researcher active in hieroglyphic decipherment. At first they cooperated in their work, but later, from around 1815, a chill arose between them. Again, Sacy took the side of Young.
Young started to correspond with Sacy, who advised Young not to share his work with Champollion and described Champollion as a charlatan. Consequently, Young avoided all direct contact with Champollion.[10]
When Champollion submitted his Coptic grammar and dictionary for publication in 1815, de Sacy also opposed this.
Another student of Sacy was Johan David Åkerblad. He was a Swedish scholar who also contributed significantly to the investigation of the Rosetta Stone. Early on, in 1802, Åkerblad published his version of the Demotic alphabet; sixteen of these letters later proved to be correct and were used by Champollion, as well as by Young. Sacy felt that Akerblad was not getting enough credit for the good work that he was doing.
Thus, the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics was being hampered by political and personal considerations. There were also big political rivalries between England and France at that time that also stood in the way of co-operation.
Nevertheless, when, in spite of all adversity, Champollion had made big progress in decipherment by 1822—resulting in his Lettre à M. Dacier—Sacy cast all politics aside and warmly welcomed the good work of his student.
Other scholarly works
Among his other works are his edition of
Critical studies
Edward Said and other modern scholars have given critical attention to the theoretical foundations of "orientalism" in works like Chrestomathie arabe.[11]
Notable students
In Edward Said's Orientalism, Sacy is described as "the teacher of nearly every major Orientalist in Europe, where his students dominated the field for about three-quarters of a century."[5] Said also notes that several of Sacy's students were "politically useful" as part of French presence in Egypt following Napoleon's invasion.[5]
- Jean-François Champollion, orientalist, translator of the Rosetta stone
- Étienne Marc Quatremère, a French orientalist who contributed to the research in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
- Johan David Åkerblad, a Swedish diplomat and orientalist; he contributed to the investigation of the Rosetta Stone.
- John Martin Augustine Scholz, Professor in Bonn
- Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer, Professor in Leipzig
- Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten, Professor in Jena and in Greifswald
- August Ferdinand Mehren, Professor in Copenhagen
- Justus Olshausen, Professor in Kiel
- Johann Gustav Stickel (1805–1896), Professor in Jena
- Carl Johan Tornberg (1807–77), Professor in Uppsala[12]
- Bibliothèque Nationale
- Adam Franz Lennig, German Catholic theologian, and one of the most influential German priests of his day.
- Samuel Gobat, Anglican-Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem
Silvestre de Sacy assisted the young composer Fromental Halévy in his early career, giving him a testimonial during his application for the Prix de Rome.
Sacy died in his native city of Paris, aged 79.
Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 1,000+ works in 1,000+ publications in 16 languages and 3,000+ library holdings.[13]
- Mémoires sur diverses antiquités de la Perse: et sur les médailles des rois de la dynastie des Sassanides; suivis de l'histoire de cette dynastie (1793)
- Principes de grammaire générale : mis à la portée des enfans, et propres à servir d'introduction à l'étude de toutes les langues (1799)
- Mémoire sur divers événements de l'histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet (1803)
- Chrestomathie arabe, ou, Extraits de divers écrivains arabes, tant en prose qu'en vers, avec une traduction française et des notes, à l'usage des élèves de l'École royale et spéciale des langues orientales vivantes (1806)
- Specimen historiae arabum by Bar Hebraeus (1806)
- Mémoire sur la dynastie des Assassins et sur l'origine de leur nom (1809)
- Grammaire arabe à l'usage des élèves de l'École spéciale des langues orientales vivantes (1810)
- Les séances de Hariri, publiées en arabe avec un commentaire choisi by Ḥarīrī (1822)
- Anthologie grammaticale arabe: ou, Morceaux choisis de divers grammairiens et scholiastes arabes, avec une traduction française et des notes ; pouvant faire suite a la Chrestomathie arabe (1829)
- Grammaire arabe à l'usage des élèves de l'Ecole spéciale des langues orientales vivantes (1831)
- Exposé de la religion des druzes, tiré des livres religieux de cette secte, et précédé d'une introduction et de la Vie du khalife Hakem-biamr-Allah (1838)
- Les mille et une nuits; contes arabes (1839)
- Bibliothèque de M. le baron Silvestre de Sacy (1846)
- Mélanges de littérature orientale (1861)
References
- ^ Silvestre de Sacy. Le projet européen d'une science orientaliste, éditions du Cerf, 2014
- ISBN 978-0-226-45238-8.
- ISBN 978-1-4655-1068-6.
- ^ a b c d e public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Silvestre de Sacy, Antoine Isaac". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 119. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ OCLC 1200830761.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- ^ Robinson, Andrew (2019-01-18). Cracking Ancient Codes: Egyptian Hieroglyphs - with Andrew Robinson (Video conference). The Royal Institution. 14.53 minutes in. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Robinson, Andrew (2019-01-18). Cracking Ancient Codes: Egyptian Hieroglyphs - with Andrew Robinson (Video conference). The Royal Institution. 14.53 minutes in. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Adkins & Adkins 2000, p. 97–8.
- ^ Adkins & Adkins 2000, p. 129.
- ^ Spanos, William V. (2003). The Legacy of Edward W. Said, p. 101., p. 101, at Google Books
- ^ Carl Johan Tornberg (in Swedish)
- ^ WorldCat Identities Archived December 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine: Silvestre de Sacy, A. I. (Antoine Isaac) 1758-1838
- Adkins, Lesley; Adkins, Roy (2000). The Keys of Egypt: The Obsession to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-019439-1.
External links
- Works by or about Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy at Internet Archive
- Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (1831). Grammaire arabe à l'usage des élèves de l'École spéciale des langues orientales vivantes: avec figures, Volume 1 (2 ed.). Imprimerie royale. p. 8. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
- Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (1831). Grammaire arabe à l'usage des élèves de l'Ecole spéciale des langues orientales vivantes: avec figures, Volume 2 (2 ed.). Imprimerie royale. Retrieved 2011-07-06.