Claude Capperonnier (1 May 1671,

Montdidier, Somme Montdidier (; or ) is a commune in the Somme department in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France (historically Picardy), northern France. Geography Montdidier is on the D935 road, some 30 km southeast of Amiens, in the region known ...

– 1744),

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classical scholar, the son of a tanner, was born at Montdidier. Though destitute of a learned education, he attained a considerable knowledge of the Latin and Greek, of which last language he became professor at Paris. He studied at

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and took orders in the

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, but devoted himself almost entirely to classical studies. He declined a professorship in the

University of Basle The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, and was afterwards appointed (1722) to the

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

chair in the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. He published an edition of

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

(1725) and left behind him at his death an edition of the ancient ''Latin Rhetoricians'', which was published in 1756. He furnished much material for

Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...

's ''Thesaurus Linguae Latinae''. He was also the author of an apology for

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

; and left many valuable manuscripts. He was succeeded in his professorship in 1716 by his nephew Jean Capperonnier, born also at Mondidier. He published: #An edition of Joinville's History of St Lewis, folio. #An edition of Anacreon, 12mo.; Caesar, 2 vols. #Plautus, 3 vols. His edition of Sophocles was printed at Paris in 1731, 2 vols.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capperonnier, Claude 1671 births 1744 deaths People from Montdidier, Somme French classical scholars Academic staff of the Collège de France