Rubens Duval (25 October 1839 – 10 May 1911) was a French orientalist, specialist of the

Aramaic language Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient Syria (region), region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai Peninsula, Sinai, Southeastern Anatolia Regi ...

Biography

Upon returning from a trip to Germany where he studied for two years the course of

Heinrich Ewald Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 1803 – 4 May 1875) was a German orientalist, Protestant theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there, in 1831 ordinary pr ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

(1867–1869), he devoted himself entirely to the study of

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

, especially Aramaic. Appointed professor of Aramaic languages and literatures at 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 ...

in 1895 (inaugural lecture April 23), he held this chair until 1907, when his state of health forced him to resign. He belonged to the

Société Asiatique The Société Asiatique (, ) is a French learned society dedicated to the study of Asia. It was founded in 1822 with the mission of developing and diffusing knowledge of Asia. Its boundaries of geographic interest are broad, ranging from the Mag ...

from 1879, became a member of its Council in 1884, and held the post of librarian and assistant secretary from 1889 to 1892 before becoming manager of the ''Journal asiatique''. He became vice president of the Society in 1908, although he was at the time declined by illness, and after he had resigned from this office, he was awarded the title of Honorary President on November 11, 1910. He contributed himself to the ''Asian Journal'' by twenty articles and hundreds of bibliographic records. He was also a member of the

Société de linguistique de Paris The Société de Linguistique de Paris (established 1864) is the editing body of the ''BSL'' (''Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique'') journal. Members of the society have included such well-known French linguists as Bréal, Saussure, Meil ...

(and of its Publications Committee), member of the Council of the League of Jewish Studies, and regular member of the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft Morgenländische).

Main publications

*1881
''Traité de grammaire syriaque''
Paris, Vieweg. *1883: ''Les dialectes néo-araméens de Salamas. Textes sur l'état actuel de la Perse et contes populaires, publiés avec une traduction française'', Paris, Vieweg. *''Lexicon syriacum auctore Bar Bahlul, voces syriacas græcasque cum glossis syriacis et arabicis complectens'', Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 6 fasc. (1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1900). In this work he proposed to identify

Ishoʿ of Merv Ishoʿ of Merv ( Syriac: ''Ishoʿ Maruzaya'', Arabic: ''ʿĪsā al-Marwazī'') was an East Syrian lexicographer of the 9th century AD. He was a native of Merv in the Abbasid Caliphate. He wrote a now lost glossary of Syriac words, which was used b ...

with Zechariah of Merv. *1892
''Histoire politique, religieuse et littéraire d'Édesse jusqu'à la première croisade''
Paris, Ernest Leroux. *1893: ''L'alchimie syriaque, comprenant une introduction et plusieurs traités d'alchimie syriaques et arabes d'après les mss. du

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

'', text and translation (forme le tome II de ''La chimie au Moyen Âge'', under the leadership of

Marcellin Berthelot Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substance ...

), Paris, Imprimerie nationale. *1895: ''Les littératures araméennes'' (Inaugural lecture from his chair at the

), Paris, É. Leroux. *1899
''La littérature syriaque''
(Bibliothèque de l'enseignement de l'histoire ecclésiastique. Anciennes littératures chrétiennes, II), Paris, Lecoffre; 2e éd., 1900; 3e éd., 1907 (réimpr. Amsterdam, Philo Press, 1970). *1904–05'' Išo'yahb III Patriarcha. Liber Epistularum'', CSCO 11/12 (Script. Syri 11/12), Syriac and Latin, Paris. *1907: ''

Severus of Antioch Severus of Antioch (; ), also known as Severus of Gaza, or the Crown of Syrians (; ), was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church ...

. Homiliæ cathedrales (Homélies LII à LVII)'' (in the Syriac translation by

Jacob of Edessa Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) () (c. 640 – 5 June 708) was Bishop of Edessa and prominent Syriac Christian writer in Classical Syriac language, also known as one of earliest Syriac grammarians. In various works, he treated theologica ...

), PO 15 (t. IV, fasc. 1), Paris, Didot. * ''Notice sur le dialecte de Ma'loula'', ''Journal asiatique'', VIIe série, t. XIII, 1879, p. 456-475. *''Inscriptions syriaques de Salamas en Perse'', reproduction prints, text, translation and notes, ''Journal asiatique'', T. V, 1885, p. 39-62. *1889: ''Le patriarche Mar Jabalaha III et les princes Mongols de l' Azerbaïdjan'', ''Journal asiatique'', T. XIII, p. 313-354. *1901: ''Le Testament de saint Éphrem''. Introduction, texte et traduction », ''Journal asiatique'', T. XVIII, p. 234-319.

External links

Rubens Duval
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Duval, Rubens French orientalists University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Société Asiatique 1839 births 1911 deaths