Charles Adrien Casimir Barbier de Meynard (6 February 1826 – 31 March 1908), born at sea on a ship from
Constantinople to
Marseille, was a nineteenth-century French historian and
orientalist.
Biography
His studies focused on the early history of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and the
Caliphate. Among his other works, he completed
Julius von Mohl's translation of
Ferdowsi
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
's ''
Shahnama'', with the French title ''Livre des Rois''. This was the first European translation of the pivotal work made available to a wide audience.
Barbier de Meynard also translated numerous works by
al-Masudi,
ibn Khordadbeh and other
Caliphate-era historians. He studied the history of
Zoroastrianism, editing the ''Dictionnaire Géographique de la Perse'', and wrote about the then-nascent
Baháʼí Faith. He was involved in the editing of the 19th-century edition of Crusader sources in Arabic with French translations, the
Recueil des Historiens des Croisades.
Barbier de Meynard was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1895.
See also
*
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Selected works
*
Dictionnaire géographique, historique et littéraire de la Perse et des contrées adjacentes, extrait du ″Mo'djem el-Bouldan″ de Yaquout, et complété à l'aide de documents arabes et persans pour la plupart inédits', Paris, Impr. Impériale, 1861, XXI-640 p.
* '' Le Livre des routes et des provinces par Ibn-Khordadbeh'', published, translated and annotated by C. Barbier de Meynard, Paris, Impr. impériale, 1865, 283 p.
* ''Le Livre des Rois'', de Ferdowsî (940-1020), translated and commentated
Jules Mohl, in collab. with Charles Barbier de Meynard, Paris, 1876-1878, 7 vol. (Cette traduction a été revue par Charles Pellat en vue d'une nouvelle édition à partir de 1962).
* ''Traduction nouvelle du traité de Ghazâlî
058-1111intitulé : le Préservatif de l'erreur, et notices sur les extases (des soufis)'', Paris, Impr. nationale, 1877, 93 p.
* ''Dictionnaire turc-français : supplément aux dictionnaires publiés jusqu'à ce jour'', Paris, E. Leroux, 1881-1886, 2 vol., X-786 + 898 p.
* Traduction de ''L'Alchimiste'' de Feth-Ali Akhounzadé, Paris, Ed. Imprimerie nationale, 1886; édition numérique consultable sur google :https://archive.org/details/Lalchimiste
* ''Abou Chamah : ''Le Livre des deux jardins'', histoire des deux règnes : celui de Nour Ed-Dîn et celui de Salah Ed-Dîn'', (trad. par Barbier de Meynard), Paris, 1898. In-fol., XI-525 p.
* Mas'ûdî (X
es.- 956 ?),''Les Prairies d'or (Murūǧ al-d̲ahab wa-ma´ādin al-ǧawhar)'', trad. de Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de Courteille, Paris, Impr. Impériale/Nationale, 1861-1877, 9 vol. Nouvelle édition revue par Charles Pellat, Paris, Société asiatique, 1962-1997, 5 vol.
References
External links
Notice biographiquepar Charles Pellat
*
Éloge funèbre de M. le baron Jean-Joseph de Witte, membre de l'Académie des Inscription et belles-lettres / Paris : Institut de France. 1989. Volume 3. (p. 250–252)par Charles Barbier de Meynard.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbier de Meynard, Charles
1826 births
1908 deaths
People born at sea
19th-century French historians
Scholars of medieval Islamic history
French orientalists
French Arabists
French Iranologists
Dragomans
Translators from Persian
Translators to French
Collège de France faculty
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Members of the Ligue de la patrie française
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Société Asiatique
19th-century translators