DESGODINS, Auguste. Manheulles (Meuse) 16.10.1826 — Padang (Pedong) near Darjeeling 14.3.1913. Father. French Missionary and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Charles Michel François D. and Marie Joséphine de Roton. Studied theology in Verdun and Saint-Sulpice, ordained priest in 1850. After a few years as priest in Verdun he joined Missions étrangères and left Paris for Asia on 15.7.1855. After brief time in North India he stayed in eastern Tibetan borderlands from 1860 to 1880: After 1860-65 in Bonga on the way from Sichuan to Lhasa he was forced to change place with his companies and converts and was in 1865-73 in Yerkalo. Then in Padang in Indian Himalayas from 1880 to 1913, interrupted by a visit to France and another to Hongkong, where he edited the big Tibetan dictionary collected by himself and other missionaries since 1852. At that time it was the only one, where also eastern dialects were discussed. He also sent much geographical, climatological, geological and natural information to France.
Publications: Ed. by C.-H. Desgodins (his elder brother): Mission du Thibet de 1855 à 1870, comprenant l’exposé des affaires religieuses, et divers documents sur ce pays, accompagnée d’une carte du Thibet. D’après les lettres de M. l’abbé D. 4+419 p. Verdun 1872.
– “Du Bouddhisme”, Miss. Cath. 8, 1876, 378-380, 391-393, 404-407; “Notes ethnographiques sur le Thibet”, Annales de l’Extrême-Orient 1878:2, 10-12; “Le Thibet. Notes ethnographiques”, Annales de l’Extréme-Orient 1879:2, 129-135; “Le Thibet, Notes linguistiques”, Ibid. 225-230; some further articles, also in Bull. Soc. Géogr.
– Important part in Le Thibet d’après la correspondance des missionnaires. 475 p. P. 1885.
– “Bouddhisme thibetain”, Revue des Rel. 2, 1890, 193-216, 385-410, 481-511.
– Essai de grammaire tibétaine pour la language parlé avec alphabet et prononciation. 8+92 p. Hongkong 1899.
– Edited: Dictionnaire thibétain-latin-français par les missionaries catholiques du Thibet. 12+1087 p. Hongkong 1899.
– A few brief articles
Sources: H. Cordier, TP 14, 1913, 783f.; *G. Gratuze, Un pionnier de la mission tibétaine: Le père Auguste Desgodins (1826-1913). 363 p. P. 1968; works in /www.irfa.paris/fr/notices/notices-biographiques/desgodins; parents in geneanet.org; Wikipedia with photo (much more in French version).
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