Edmond Destaing (19 January 1872 – 27 December 1940) was a French orientalist

Arabist An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and Arab culture, culture (usually including Arabic literature). Origins Arabists began in Al Andalus, medieval Muslim ...

, Berberologist, and first holder of the Chair of Berber at the

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

Biography

Destaing, initially a teacher in

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Bouzaréah. He taught at the Franco-native school of rue Montpensier from 1894. He served as Professor of Natural Sciences and Geography at the under the direction of William Marçais and Alfred Bel (1902-1907), concentrating (beginning 1905) on the study of the Beni Snous dialect at the Moroccan border. His resulting translation dictionary is still a work of reference. Appointed director of the newly created Médersa at

Saint-Louis, Senegal Saint-Louis () or Saint Louis (), is the capital of Senegal's Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, and north of Senegal's capital city Dakar. It had a population of 254,171 in 2023. Saint-L ...

in 1907, he took the direction of the Médersa of Algiers in succession to William Marçais in 1910. In 1914, he was assigned the Berber Chair created at the École des Langues Orientales. From 1921, he also taught Maghreb Arabic at the

École nationale de la France d'outre-mer The Colonial School (, also known colloquially as ) was a French public higher education institution or Grandes écoles, grande école, created in Paris in 1889 to provide training for public servants and administrators of the French colonial emp ...

. Having contracted

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

in Algeria, he died on 27 December 1940 at his home in

L'Haÿ-les-Roses L'Haÿ-les-Roses () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. L'Haÿ-les-Roses is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Val-de-Marne ''Département ...

.Claude Lefébure, « Destaing, Edmond », in François Pouillon (dir.), ''Dictionnaire des orientalistes de langue française'', Paris, Karthala, 2008, .

Works

* 1907
''Etude sur le dialecte berbère des Beni-Snous.'' Paris, E. Leroux
* 1914

''Dictionnaire français-berbère, dialecte des Beni Snous.'' Paris, Leroux]

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Destaing, Edmond 1872 births People from Doubs 1940 deaths French scholars of Islam French Arabists French orientalists Berberologists