Eugène Burnouf

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Eugène Burnouf

Eugène Burnouf (spr.Bürnuf) (born August 12, 1801 in Paris , † May 28, 1852 ibid) was a French Indologist .

Live and act

Burnouf was the son of the respected classical philologist Jean-Louis Burnouf (1775-1844), who was known for a translation of the works of Tacitus published in six volumes from 1827 to 1833 .

Burnouf first studied law, then under Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat and Antoine-Léonard de Chézy oriental languages, namely Indian and Persian. In 1829 he was employed at the École normal supérieure and in 1832 received as successor to Chézy the professorship of sanskrit at the Collège de France , which he held until his death. Since 1832 also a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , he died on May 28, 1852 after being appointed permanent secretary a few days earlier. Burnouf's work, which was distinguished by a strictly methodical procedure and clear and attractive presentation, had an epoch-making effect in two directions for the study of Buddhism and that of Zendavesta .

The Pali , the sacred language of the southern Buddhists, he underwent together with Christian Lassen in Bonn the first in-depth investigation into the of two scholars together published Essai sur le Pali (Paris 1826), followed by Burnouf alone another Observations grammaticales (ibid 1827) over the Pâli.

When, in 1837, the Société asiatique in Paris received an important collection of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts he had discovered there from Hodgson , the English Minister-Resident in Nepal, Burnouf set about examining these manuscripts with great enthusiasm. He soon recognized in them the oldest writings of the northern Buddhists and on the basis of them he was able to publish his work Introduction à l'histoire du buddhisme indien as early as 1844 , which was later followed by the translation of Le lotus de la bonne loi from Sanskrit (after his death edited by Julius Mohl , Paris 1852, new edition Paris 1925). Burnouf had already turned his attention to the oldest religious literature of the Iranians, as it is preserved in the so-called Zendavesta. He published the most important part of the same, the Vendidad Sadé l'un des livres de Zoroastre , lithographed (Paris 1829–43); in particular, however, in his Commentaire sur le Yaçna l'un des livres lithurgiques des Parses (Paris 1833) he determined the exact character of the Zend language for the first time and reconstructed its grammatical forms by comparing it with Sanskrit.

This was followed by Études sur la langue et sur les textes Zends . In his Mémoire sur deux inscriptions cuneiformes trouvées près d'Hemadan et qui font maintenant partie des papiers du Dr. , Burnouf made a significant advance in the deciphering of the ancient Persian language, which is closely related to the Zend, as it is in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenids. Schulz (Paris 1836).

Burnouf has finally published several works from the realm of Sanskrit literature , namely an edition and translation of Le Bhāgavata-Purāṇa ou Histoire poètique de Krich.na .

After Danielle Buschinger, Burnouf's works had an influence on the composer Richard Wagner ; after Georges Bertrand, this influence can be found particularly in Wagner's unfinished opera Die Sieger .

Awards

Works (selection)

  • with Christian Lassen : Essai sur le Pali. Paris 1826.
  • Observations grammaticales. Paris 1827.
  • Vendidad Sadé l'un des livres de Zoroastre. Paris 1829-43.
  • Commentaire on le Yaçna l'un des livres lithurgiques des Parses. Paris 1833.
  • Mémoire sur deux inscriptions cuneiformes trouvées près d'Hemadan et qui font maintenant partie des papiers du Dr. Schulz. Paris 1836.
  • Le Bhāgavata-Purāṇa ou Histoire poètique de Krich.na. Paris 1840–1847, 3 volumes, reprint Paris 1981.
  • Etudes sur la langue et sur les textes Zends. Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1840–50.
  • Introduction à l'histoire du buddhisme india. Imprimerie royale, Paris 1844 ( archive.org ) 2nd edition 1876.
    • in English translation by Winifred Stephens as Legends of Indian Buddhism. EP Dutton, New York 1911. archive.org .
  • (as translator), Julius Mohl (ed.): Le lotus de la bonne loi traduit du sanscrit, accompagné d'un commentaire et de vingt et un mémoires relatifs au buddhisme. Maisonneuve frères, Paris 1852 ( posthumous ), new edition Paris 1925 ( archive.org ).

literature

  • Laure Burnouf Delisle: Choix de lettres d'Eugene Burnouf. Suivi d'une bibliography. H. Champion, Paris 1891 ( archive.org ).
  • Akira Yuyama: Eugène Burnouf: the background to his research into the Lotus Sutra. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica, Volume III, The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Tokyo 1998, Soka University 2000, ISBN 4-9980622-2-0 , soka.ac.jp ( Memento from July 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( PDF; 2.8 MB; English).
  • Burnouf, 2) Eugène . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, pp. 674–674.
  • Jules De Wailly (Eds.), Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire , Joseph-Daniel Guigniaut: Funérailles de M. Eugène Burnouf, secrétaire perpétuel de l'Academie:… prononcé aux funérailles…. (May 30, 1852), Didot, Paris 1852, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10499996-4 .
  • Clarisse Herrenschmidt: Burnouf, Eugène (1801-52) . In: Ehsan Yarshater (ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica . Volume IV (6), pp. 566–567, as of December 15, 1990 (English, including references)
  • Théodore Pavie: Notice sur les travaux de M. Eugène Burnouf. Paris 1853, pp. 6–27, (French, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • Joseph Naudet: Notice historique sur MM. Burnouf, père et fils, lue dans la séance publique annuelle de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres le 18 août 1854. Paris 1886, pp. 17–60, (French, full text [Wikisource ]).
  • Chronique mai-juin 1852. Eugène Burnouf. In: Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, année 1852. Volume 13, pp. 509–512, persee.fr (French).
  • J. Mohl: Report on the travaux du Conseil pendant l'année 1851–1852. In: Journal asiatique. XX (4e série), 1852, pp. 22-36 (French).
  • Burnouf, Eugène . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 4 : Bishārīn - Calgary . London 1910, p. 855 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Eugène Burnouf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Eugène Burnouf  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth August 12, 1801 according to A. Yuyama and Eugène Burnouf. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed April 14, 2019 . , also on the website of the Pour le Mérite , Pavie (p. 7), Naudet (p. 39) and the Chronique mai-juin 1852 of the Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, année 1852 (p. 510) mention the 8th April 1801 as his birthday, Meyers gives April 1st 1801 differently.
  2. ↑ Introduction à l'histoire du buddhisme india. 2nd edition 1876.
  3. ^ Études sur la langue et sur les textes Zends. Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1840–50
  4. ↑ Le Bhāgavata-Purāṇa ou Histoire poètique de Krich.na. 3 volumes. Paris 1840–47, reprint Paris 1981.
  5. ^ Wagner et la France. Report on the conference from February 13 to 15, 2013 in Paris, on hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de.
  6. ↑ Eugène Burnouf on orden-pourlemerite.de.
personal data
SURNAME Burnouf, Eugène
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1852
Place of death Paris