E. S. Ariel, also referred to as Monsieur Ariel (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

for "Mr. Ariel") by his contemporaries, was a 19th-century

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

known for his French translation of the ancient Indian philosophical text of the

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The tex ...

. He translated select couplets of the Tirukkural into French in 1848 and published it in

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. ...

under the title ''Kural de Thiruvalluvar (Traduits du Tamoul)''. Although the first French translation of the Kural text was made by an unknown author in 1767, which Ariel had mentioned in his work, it was Ariel's translation that brought the ancient work to the French world.

Quotations

In a letter to Burnouf published in the ''Journal Asiatique'' (November–December 1848), Ariel called the Kural text, He also famously said of the Tirukkural thus: "''Ce livre sans nom, par un auteur sans nom''" ("The book without a name by an author without a name.")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ariel, E. S. Tamil–French translators Translators of the Tirukkural into French Tirukkural translators

Quotations

See also

References