Anatole Bailly (;

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Hellenist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, author of the famous '' Dictionnaire grec-français'' (Greek-French Dictionary), published in 1895.

Biography

Anatole Bailly was born at Orleans on 16 December 1833 to a family of moderate wealth - his father was a director of the auditing company ''L'Orléanaise'' and his mother ran a small store selling groceries, fruit and sewing supplies. He studied at a college in Orleans and obtained a bachelor of letters. He was then sent to Paris to prepare for entry into the

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education sca ...

in a private institution, which he graduated from in 1853. Anatole Bailly began his career in education as a substitute at the

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in Lyons. There he successfully achieved the

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''profess ...

de grammaire. Named a professor at the lycée in Lyon, he left this city in 1859 for a job at the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...

in Paris. In 1861 he was hired by the Lycée Pothier in Orleans, his home town. He spent the rest of his career in this post, from which he retired in 1889. A competent and conscientious, but very modest, professor, Bailly authored numerous textbooks, grammars and dictionaries of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

which were popular in French schools at the end of the 19th century. He was equally interested in history and wrote many biographical accounts of overlooked people from Orleans. He became a member of Orleans scholarly societies of Orleans: the ''Société d'Agriculture, Sciences, Belles-lettres et Arts d'Orléans'' and the ''Société archéologique et historique de l'Orléanais''. At a national level, he was a member of the ''Conseil académique de Paris'' and the ''Association pour l'encouragement des études grecques en France'' (from its foundation in 1867), in addition to being appointed a correspondent of the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

in the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

in 1889. Among other roles, Bailly was an officer of the Académie, a knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

, and a knight of the royal order of the Sauveur de Grèce. After the publication in 1885 of the ''Dictionnaire étymologique latin'' which he co-authored with Michel Bréal, Bailly completed the '' Dictionnaire grec-français'' with the assistance of

Émile Egger Émile Egger (18 July 18131 September 1885) was a French scholar. Life Émile Egger was born in Paris. From 1840 to 1855, Egger was assistant professor, and from 1855 until his death he was professor of Greek literature in the Faculté des Let ...

in 1895. This last work assured his scholarly reputation. The abridged version, which was about half the length of the original, appeared in 1901. He was in the process of producing a revised edition of what would come to be known as ''Le Bailly'', when he died suddenly on 12 December 1911 in his family home, in which he had spent the greater part of his life. A college in Orleans established in June 2008 is named in his honour.

References

* Serge Vannier, ''Les Hommes célèbres du XX^e dans le Loiret'', Romorantin, CPE, 2001. * A. Bouvier, "Notice sur M. Anatole Bailly," ''Mémoires de la Société d'agriculture, sciences, belles-lettres et arts d'Orléans'', Series 5, Vol. 12, Orléans, 1912,
Online
. * Dr Courgeon, "Discours prononcé pour le centenaire de la naissance d'Anatole Bailly," in ''Mémoires de la Société d'agriculture, sciences, belles-lettres et arts d'Orléans,'' series 5, Vol. 25, Orléans, 1933,
Online
.

External links

; ''Abrégé du dictionnaire grec-français'' (Abridgement of the Greek-French Dictionary), 1901
archive.org
(pdf & djvu online)

(pdf per page online)

(texte online) ; ''Dictionnaire étymologique latin'' (Latin Etymological Dictionary), 1885
archive.org
(incomplete) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bailly, Anatole Scholars of Ancient Greek French lexicographers French Latinists French hellenists Knights of the Legion of Honour École Normale Supérieure alumni Writers from Orléans 1833 births 1911 deaths Lycée Louis-le-Grand teachers