GUYARD, Stanislas. Frottey-lès-Vesoul (Haute-Saône) 27.9.1846 — Paris 7.9.1884. French Oriental, especially Semitic scholar, but with wide interests, including Indology. Son of Auguste Guyard (1808–1882), a radical idealist who wanted to introduce a universal religion and homeopathy. Spent three years in Russia, came to Paris in 1861 in the age of 15, studied Oriental languages. Taught Arabic and Persian first as Répétiteur, then as Directeur d’études at É.P.H.É. from its foundation in 1868. Little before his death, in February 1884, appointed Professor of Arabic at Collège de France. Committed suicide “dans un accès de fièvre cerebrale” (Meyer). Unmarried.
Guyard was mainly an Arabic and Islamic scholar and an Assyriologist, in Indology mainly known of his translation of Minaev’s grammar. His interests further included Hebrew, Syriac and Ethiopian. Russian he had learned in his childhood in the country. In his last years he did much research on Akkadian and on the decipherment of the cuneiform of Urartu.
Publications: Editor and contributor of Revue critique.
– Fetwa d’Ibn Tamiyyah sur les Nosairis. 43 p. [P.] 1871 (ed. & tr.); Fragments relatifs à la doctrine des Ismaélis. 252 p. P. 1874; “Un grand maitre des Assasins au temps de Saladin”, JA 7:9, 1877, 324-489; Théorie nouvelle de la métrique arabe. 350+19 p. P. 1877; Le Divan de Beda ed dîn Zoheir. 48 p. P. 1883; further works and articles, translations.
– Participated in the Leiden Tabari edition, of which his share appeared in 1881.
– Translated from Russian: Minayeff, Grammaire palie. Esquisse d’une phonétique et d’une morphologie de la langue palie. 4+128 p. P. 1874; from Arabic: Géographie d’Aboulféda. 2:2. P. 1883 (1–2:1 by Reinaud).
– Reviews, e.g. of Leupol’s Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa, Paris 1868, in JA 6:13, 1869, 378-382.
– Manuel de la langue persane vulgaire. 31+257 p. P. 1880.
Sources: J. Halévy, BSL 5, 1885, cci-ccv; A. Messaoudi, D.O.L.F. 472f.; C. Meyer, D.B.F. 17, 1989, 389; E. Renan, RHR 10, 1884, 231-237; *JA 1884:2, 385-388 & 1885:2, 18-26; *Revue crit. 1884:2, 225-229, 249-253; German Wikipedia briefly.
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