BURNOUF, Émile-Louis. Valognes (Manche) 25/26.8.1821 — Paris 1.7. or 15/16.1.1907. French Indologist and Classical scholar. Son of bailiff Charles Burnouf (1787–1859) and Aimée Felicity Lévêque, cousin of —> Eugène Burnouf (1801–1852). After Lycée Saint-Louis studied from 1841 at École normale supérieure, then sent to École d’Athènes. Ph.D. 1850 Paris. From 1854 professeur de la littérature orientale ancienne at Faculté de Nancy. In 1867 back to École d’Athènes as its director, conducted excavations in Santorini (Thera). After the term in Athens was concluded in 1875 he was appointed a Professor at Faculté des lettres in Bordeaux, but refused because of the anti-liberal tendencies of this university. Spent the rest of his life in Paris as a private scholar (directeur honoraire de l’École d’Athènes) concentrating on his studies on classical and Oriental languages and on chemistry. Legion d’honneur 1862. Married Marie Léonie Paillot (b. 1831), at least one daughter.
Burnouf suffered badly in shadow of his great cousin, but was in fact an able scholar and pioneer in many fields. With Leupol (—> Leloup de Cheroy) he published the first French Sanskrit dictionary and the first useful manual of the language. The Bhagavadgītā was intended to accompany them as the first reading text. His 1863 book on Rigvedic culture was the first independent study on this field, but unfortunately Burnouf was too much bound to the poor translation of Langlois, and was soon displaced by the better works of Ludwig and Zimmer in the 1870s. Still it was reviewed favourably by Windisch. He was a racist and antisemitist who presented “Aryans” as a master race. In addition to Sanskrit and Greek, he was also interested in Chinese and Japanese.
Publications: Diss. Des principes de l’art d’après la méthode et les doctrines de Platon. 8+156 p. P. 1850; diss. II. De Neptuno ejusque cultu in Peloponneso. 80p. P. 1850.
– With Leupol: Méthode pour étudier la lange sanskrite. 182 p. Nancy 1859, 2nd ed. P. 1861; Dictionnaire classique sanskrit-française. 781 p. Nancy 1863–65.
– Translated with text in Latin letters: Le Bhagavad-Gîtâ ou le chant du bien-heureux, poème indien. 22+235 p. Nancy & P. 1861.
– Essai sur le Vêda ou études sur les religions, la littérature et la constitution sociale de l’Inde depuis les temps primitifs jusqu’aux temps brahmaniques. 469 p. P. 1863.
– With Leupol: Selectae e Sanscriticis scriptoribus paginae. Choix de morceaux Sanscrits traduits, annotés, analysés. 16+230 p. P. 1867.
– “Le Bouddhisme en Occident”, Revue des Deux Mondes 88, 1888, 340–372.
– Histoire de la littérature grecque. 1. 23+399 l. P. 1869; La légende athénienne. 216 p. P. 1871.
– La science des religions. 1872, 3rd ed. 474 p. P. 1876, English translation 1888; Le catholicisme contemporain. 463 p. P. 1879; La vie et la pensée, éléments réels de philosophie. 8+452 p. P. 1886.
– Translated: La Mythologie des Japonais d’après le Koku-si-ryaku. 16 p. P. 1875.
– “Éditions et traductions d’ouvrages latins, grecs et orientaux, des livres sur les chants de l’Église latine, sur le Cantique des cantiques etc.”
Sources: M. Prévost, D.B.F. 7, 1956; Windisch 147; briefly in RHR 55, 1907, 138; Wikipedia (defective, better in French version, with photo).
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