The Prix Volney ( en, Volney Medal) is awarded by the

Institute of 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 m ...

after proposition by 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 ...

to a work of

comparative philology Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness i ...

. The prize was founded by

Constantin Volney Constantin is an Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname. For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name). See also * Constantine (name) Constantine ( or ; Latin: ''Cōnstan ...

in 1803 and was originally a gold medal worth 1,200 francs.

Recipients include

Nicolas Massias Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

(1828) * Jean-Pierre Darrigol (1829) * Peter Stephen DuPonceau, ''Mémoire sur le systeme grammatical des langues de quelques nations Indiennes de l'Amérique du Nord'' ( ''Study of the grammatical systems of some North American Indian languages'') (1838) *

Theodor Benfey :''This is about the German philologist. For Theodor Benfey (born 1925) who developed a spiral periodic table of the elements in 1964, see Otto Theodor Benfey.'' Theodor Benfey (; 28 January 1809, in Nörten near Göttingen26 June 1881, in Götti ...

, ''Lexicon of Greek Roots'' *

Eugène Burnouf Eugène Burnouf (; April 8, 1801May 28, 1852) was a French scholar, an Indologist and orientalist. His notable works include a study of Sanskrit literature, translation of the Hindu text ''Bhagavata Purana'' and Buddhist text ''Lotus Sutra''. He ...

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote infl ...

, ''General History of Semitic Languages'' (1847) * Albin de Chevallet, ''Études philologiques et historiques sur l'origine et la formation de la langue française'' ( ''Philological and historical study on the origin and formation of the French language'') (1850) * Sigismund Koelle, ''Polyglotta Africana'' (1856) * Count

Franz Xaver von Miklosisch Franz Miklosich (german: Franz Ritter von Miklosich, also known in Slovene as ; 20 November 1813 – 7 March 1891) was a Slovene philologist. Early life Miklosich was born in the small village of Radomerščak near the Lower Styrian town of Lj ...

, ''Vergleichende Formenlehre ders slavischen Sprachen'' ( ''Teaching comparative forms in Slavic languages'') (1857) * L.-F. Meunier, ' ( ''Compositions containing reflexive verbs in Latin, French, Italian and Spanish'') (1873) *

Robert Caesar Childers Robert Caesar Childers (12 February 1838 – 25 July 1876) was a British Orientalist scholar, compiler of the first Pāli- English dictionary. Childers was the husband of Anna Barton of Ireland. He was the father of Irish nationalist Erskine ...

''A Dictionary of the Pali Language'' (1876) *

Johann Gottlieb Christaller Johann Gottlieb Christaller (19 November 1827 – 16 December 1895) was a German missionary, clergyman, ethnolinguist, translator and philologist who served with the Basel Mission. He was devoted to the study of the Twi language in what w ...

, work on the

Twi language Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, inclu ...

(1876, 1882) *

James Schön James Frederick Schön (1802, in Ober Weiler – 30 March 1889, in Chatham) was a German missionary and linguist who was active in Sierra Leone. He also participated in the Niger expedition of 1841. After attending the Basel Seminary, Schön atte ...

, work on the Hausa language (1877) * Christian Garnier, ''Méthode de Transcription rationnelle générale des Noms géographiques'' (1898) *

Antoine Meillet Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936 Châteaumeillant, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he w ...

''Recherches sur le génitif-accusatif en vieux slave'' (1898) *

Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Denmark, Danish linguistics, linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the ninetee ...

, ''Growth and Structure of the English Language'' (1906) *

Albert Cuny __NOTOC__ Albert Cuny (16 May 1869 – 21 March 1947) was a French linguist known for his attempts to establish phonological correspondences between the Indo-European and Semitic languages and for his contributions to the laryngeal theory. He was ...

twice: ''Le nombre duel en grec'' (1907) et ''Études prégrammaticales sur le domaine des langues indo-européennes et chamito-sémitiques'' (1920) *

Édouard Bourciez Édouard is both a French given name and a surname, equivalent to Edward in English. Notable people with the name include: * Édouard Balladur (born 1929), French politician * Édouard Boubat (1923–1999), French photographer * Édouard Colonne ...

, ''Éléments de linguistique romane'' (1910) *

Marcel Cohen Marcel Samuel Raphaël Cohen (February 6, 1884 – November 5, 1974) was a French linguist. He was an important scholar of Semitic languages and especially of Ethiopian languages. He studied the French language and contributed much to general lingu ...

, twice: 1913 for ''Le Parler arabe des juifs d'Alger'' and 1925, ''Le Système verbal sémitique et l'expression du temps'' *

Jules Bloch Jules Bloch (May 1, 1880 in Paris – November 29, 1953) was a French linguist who studied Indian languages, and was also interested in languages in their cultural and social contexts. Doctor of Letters in 1914, he was director of studies at the ...

, twice: ''La formation de la langue marathe'' in 1914 and ''L'Indo-aryen du Véda jusqu'aux temps présents'' in 1935 * Gustave Guillaume, ''Le problème de l'article et sa solution dans la langue française'' (1917) *

Albert Dauzat Albert Dauzat (; 4 July 1877 – 31 October 1955) was a French linguist specializing in toponymy and onomastics. Dauzat, a student of Jules Gilliéron, was a director of studies at the École des hautes études École may refer to: * an element ...

, ''Les argots de métiers franco-provençaux'' (1919) * Milivoj Pavlovic, ''Le langage enfantin: acquisition du serbe et du français par un enfant serbe'' (1921) *

Jean Deny Jean Deny (12 July 1879 – 5 Novembre 1963) was a French grammarian, specialist of oriental languages. Biography Born to a French father and a Polish mother settled in Kiev, Jean Deny became familiar with the French, Polish, Ukrainian and Ru ...

, ''Grammaire de la langue turque (dialecte osmanli)'' (1922) *

Lucien Tesnière Lucien Tesnière (; May 13, 1893 – December 6, 1954) was a prominent and influential French linguist. He was born in Mont-Saint-Aignan on May 13, 1893. As a maître de conférences (senior lecturer) in University of Strasbourg (1924), and ...

, ''Les formes du duel en slovène (1926) *

Albert Sechehaye Albert Sechehaye (; 4 July 1870, Geneva – 2 July 1946, Geneva) was a Swiss linguist. He is known for editing Ferdinand de Saussure's lectures, ''Course in General Linguistics''. Biography Sechehaye studied at the University of Geneva under Ferd ...

, ''Essai sur la structure logique de la phrase'' (1927) *

André Vaillant André Vaillant (November 3, 1890 – April 23, 1977), was a French linguist, philologist and grammarian who also specialized in Slavic languages. He was born in Soissons. After studying at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he became professor ...

, ''La langue de Dominko Zlataric, poète ragusain de la fin du XVIe siècle'' (1929) *

René Lafon René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

, ''Le système du verbe basque au XVI^e siècle'' et ''Le système des formes verbales à auxiliaire dans les principaux textes basques du XVI^e siècle'' (1945) * Gilbert Lazard (1964). *

Antoine Grégoire Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin '' Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guian ...

, ''L'apprentissage du langage'' (1937) *

Claude Hagège Claude Hagège (; born 1 January 1936) is a French linguist. Biography He was elected to the Collège de France in 1988 and received several awards for his work, including the Prix de l'Académie Française and the CNRS Gold medal. Famous for b ...

(1981)

References

Philology French literary awards 1803 establishments in France Awards established in 1803 {{Philology-stub