De Chezy, AL

NAME:  Chezy, Antoine Leonard de

ACHIEVEMENT(S):  Pioneer in the study of Sanskrit

NICKNAME/ALIAS:  None

DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH:  January 15, 1773, Neuilly, France

DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH:  September 3, 1832, Paris, France;  Aged 59

DISCIPLINE:  Philologist

FIELD:  Philology

LANGUAGE:  French

PARENTS:  Antoine de Chezy; Marie Pollin

SIBLINGS:  None

SPOUSE:  Helmina von Klencke

CHILDREN:  Two

EDUCATION:  College de Navarre

MAJOR WORK:  Translated from Sanskrit: "Yadjanadatta Badha";

"La Reconnaissance de Sacountala"

LIFE AND TIMES:

Chezy studied engineering for a while to please his father,  but soon gave it up to follow his keen interest in oriental languages.  After two years working at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some time studying at the Ecole Polytechnique, and a lengthy period of illness, Chezy got a job cataloguing manuscripts  in the oriental department of the national library. 

He began to study Sanskrit , and though he had neither grammar book nor dictionary, mastered the language to the point where he was able to compose verses in it.

In 1814, Chezy became First Professor of Sanskrit at the College de France, where his students included Bopp* and Wilhelm von Humboldt* (and possibly Friedrich Schlegel*.) 

In 1824, he became head of the College department of manuscripts and was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor and a member of the Academie des Inscriptions.  Among his important translations were: "Medjouin et Leila" (1807), from the Persian; "Yadjanadatta Badha" (1814) and "La Reconnaissance de Sacountala" (1830) from the Sanskrit; and “L'Anthologie erotique d'Amrou" (1831), published under the pseudonym d'Apudy.

ASSESSMENT:  A European pioneer in the study of Sanskrit and other oriental languages

ONELINER: De Chezy,  French early scholar of Sanskrit

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

EB

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