Jean François Marie Le Gonidec de Kerdaniel (Breton: Yann-Frañsez ar Gonideg) (4 September 1775 – 12 October 1838) was a Breton grammarian who codified the

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of ...

. He played an important role in the history of his native language by initiating a reform of its

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

, producing an orderly grammar and making the first Breton translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

. He is sometimes called "Reizher ar brezhoneg" (Restorer of the Breton language).

Life

Le Gonidec was born in

Le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns—Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west Th ...

to a family of the petty nobility. He studied in the college at

Tréguier Tréguier (; br, Landreger) is a port town in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the capital of the province of Trégor. Geography Tréguier is located 36 m. N.W. of Saint-Brieuc by road. The port is situa ...

from 1787 to 1791. After the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

he participated in the Royalist Catholic uprising known as the

Chouannerie The Chouannerie (from the Chouan brothers, two of its leaders) was a royalist uprising or counter-revolution in twelve of the western ''départements'' of France, particularly in the provinces of Brittany and Maine, against the First Repub ...

. After 1804, he joined Napoleon's Naval administration (''Marine de guerre''), and was commissioned to administer the forests with a view to manage the production of wood for ship building. He lived in several towns:

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, Hambourg, Nancy and Moulins, settling in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a commune, the prefecture of the Charente department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoumoisins ...

where he lived for many years. Louis-Marie Dujardin. ''La vie et les œuvres de Jean-François-Marie-Maurice-Agathe Le Gonidec, grammairien et lexicographe breton, 1775–1838''. Préf. P. Le Roux. Brest, Impr. Comm. & adm. 1949. He occupied his spare time reforming the orthography of Breton and the codification of its grammar. In 1807, he published a (Grammar of Breton Celtic) which sought to delineate the syntactical system of the language. It was the second notable work of its type after Father Julien Maunoir's 1657 grammar published by the . Le Gonidec wished to purify Breton, minimising French loan words used in vernacular speech and clarifying its relationship to its closest living relative

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

. He became a member of the short-lived , founded in Paris in 1803, which was soon renamed the . In 1821, he published a . In 1833, he moved to Paris and joined the , founded by a fellow Breton. In 1837, he produced a . He died in the following year. The second edition of his was published shortly after his death. He was buried in Brittany, in the cemetery of Lochrist, near his birthplace of Le Conquet,

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

. The tomb was erected by Welsh and Breton admirers. It is surmounted by a monument carrying inscriptions in Welsh and French.

Biblical translations

Le Gonidec's greatest ambition was to translate the Bible into Breton, having seen the powerful effect of a Welsh translation in maintaining the Welsh language. Seeking the support of the Catholic Church, in 1821 he published a ''Katekiz historik'' (historic Catechism) which was approved. However he was unable to obtain official Catholic support for his translation of the New Testament. It was only published in 1827 under the auspices of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The So ...

, who had been lobbied to support Le Gonidec by the champion of

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

publications, Thomas Price (known as "Carnhuanawc"). The resulting "Protestant" translation was placed on the Index of Banned Books by the Catholic Church.

Influence

The influence of Le Gonidec's work in Brittany was enormous, since his reforms allowed the creation of a "literary" Breton. They were adopted immediately by

Théodore Hersart de la Villemarqué Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore. Given name * Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver * Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, and novelist * Théo ...

(1815–1895) and

Auguste Brizeux Julien Auguste Pélage Brizeux (12 September 1803 – 3 May 1858) was a French poet. He was said to belong to a family of Ireland, Irish origin, long settled in Brittany. He was educated for the law, but in 1827 he produced at the Théâtre Franç ...

(1803–1858), whose works, especially the former's

Barzaz Breiz ''Barzaz Breiz'' (in modern spelling ''Barzhaz Breizh'', meaning "Ballads of Brittany": ''barzh'' is the equivalent of "bard" and ''Breizh'' means "Brittany") is a collection of Brittany, Breton popular songs collected by Theodore Claude Henri, V ...

, founded modern Breton literature. Several clerical scholars also followed his path.

Notes

*''interwiki'' Breton wp article "Bible" section "Bible in Breton": Ar Bibl e brezhoneg {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Gonidec, Jean-Francois People from Finistère Writers from Brittany Linguists from France French lexicographers Translators of the Bible into Breton 1775 births 1838 deaths