Étienne Fourmont
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Étienne Fourmont (23 June 1683 – 8 December 1745) was a French scholar and Orientalist who served as professor of
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
at the
Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ...
and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages. Although Fourmont is remembered as a pioneering
sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the e ...
who did careful and influential work on the nature of
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as '' kan ...
, his legacy is significantly tarnished by the fact that he earned his early reputation by stealing the work of Arcadius Huang, whom he had helped catalog the royal sinological collection, and that he frequently plagiarized the works of other scholars.


Life and career

Born at Herblay near
Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil. Argenteuil is the sec ...
, he studied at the
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in Paris and afterwards in the Collège Montaigu where his attention was attracted to
Oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic ...
. Shortly after leaving the college he published a ''Traduction du commentaire du Rabbin Abraham A ben Esra sur l'Ecclésiaste''. In 1711
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appointed Fourmont to assist Arcadius Huang, a Catholic Chinese convert, in cataloging the French royal collection of works in Chinese and compiling a Chinese dictionary. One day, Fourmont was discovered copying Huang's work, and after Huang's death there was suspicion that Fourmont had not given Huang adequate credit. Huang died in 1716, and Fourmont immediately appropriated his work for himself. He completed Huang's catalogue and published it in Paris in 1737 as ''Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae'' (''Royal Library Catalog of Manuscripts''). He also wrote ''Réflexions critiques sur les histoires des anciens peuples'' (1735), and several dissertations printed in the
Memoires of the Academy of Inscriptions Memoir is a literary genre or a reminiscence, a subclass of autobiography. Memoir may also refer to: Autobiographical texts * ''Memoir'' (McGahern book), a 2005 autobiographical account of the childhood of Irish author John McGahern * ''Memoirs ...
.Cécile Leung. ''Etienne Fourmont, 1683–1745: Oriental and Chinese Languages in Eighteenth-Century France.'' (Leuven: Leuven University Press; Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation, Leuven Chinese Studies, 2002).

/ref> Fourmont's most notable work was his 1737 grammar of Chinese: ''Linguae Sinarum mandarinicae hieroglyphicae grammatical duplex patine et cum characteribus Sinensium''. This work is simply a copy of Francisco Varo's earlier Chinese grammar, with the addition of Chinese characters. He became professor of
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
in the
Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ...
in 1715. In 1713 he was elected a member of the
Academy of Inscriptions An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...
, in 1738 a member of the
Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, and in 1742 a member of that of Berlin. He died at Paris on 8 December 1745. His brother, Michel Fourmont (1690–1746), was also a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and professor of the Syriac language in the Royal College.


Selected works

* --, ''Les Racines De La Langue Latine, Mises En Vers François'' (Paris: Chez Pierre-Augustin Le Mercier, 1706) * --, ''Examen Pacifique De La Querelle De Madame Dacier Et De Monsieur De La Motte Sur Homere.'' (Paris: Chez Jacques Rollin, 1716). Reprinted: Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1971. * --, ''Meditationes Sinicae: In Quibus 1. Consideratur Linguae Philosophicae Atque Universalis Natura Qualis Esse, Aut Debeat, Aut Possit. : 2. Lingua Sinarum Mandarinica Tum in Hieroglyphis Tum in Monosyllabis Suis ... Ostenditur : 3. Datur Eorumdem Hieroglyphorum Ac Monosyllaborum Atque Inde Characterum Linguae Sinicae Omnium ... Lectio & Intellectio ... : 4. Idque Omne, Progressu a Libris Mere Europaeis (De Sinica Tamen) Ad Libros Mere Sinicos, Facto'' (Lutetiae Parisiorum: Chez Musier le Père ... Jombert ... Briasson ... Bullot ; ex typographia Bullot, 1737)
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* --, ''Lingua Sinarum Mandarinicae Hieroglyphicae Grammatica Duplex, Latine Et Cum Characteribus Sinensium. Item Sinicorum Regiae Bibliothecae Librorum Catalogus'' (Lutetia Parisorum, 1742). Download or view
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* --, Joseph de Guignes, Michel-Ange-André Le Roux Deshauterayes, Jean Debure, ''Reflexions Sur L'origine, L'histoire Et La Succession Des Anciens Peuples, Chaldeens, Hebreux, Pheniciens, Egyptiens, Grecs, &C., Jusqu'au Tems De Cyrus'' Nouvelle Edition, Augmentée De La Vie De L'auteur, & D'une Table Alphabétique Des Matieres (A Paris, chez De Bure l'aîné, quai des Augustins, à l'Image S. Paul. M. DCC. XLVII., 1747).


Footnotes


References and further reading

* * , esp. "Fourmont's Dirty Little Secret"
pp. 191- 197
. * , * Leung, Cécile (2002). ''Etienne Fourmont, 1683–1745 : Oriental and Chinese Languages in Eighteenth-Century France.'' (Leuven: Leuven University Press; Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation, Leuven Chinese Studies).
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Authority Page
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourmont, Etienne 1683 births 1745 deaths People from Herblay Collège de France faculty Christian Hebraists Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres French orientalists French sinologists