MENANT, Joachim. Cherbourg 16.4.1820 — Paris 30.8.1899. French Assyriologist, with early interest in Iranian religion. Son of Joachim Menant and Amable Boissière, educated in Cherbourg. He became a lawyer (studies at Caen) and worked in administrative positions in different towns, finally from 1872 in Rouen, until retirement in 1890. Last…
MENANT, Delphine. Cherbourg 16.10.1850 — Paris 29.7.1932. Mlle. French Iranian Scholar. Daughter of the Assyriologist —> Joachim Menant. Studied under Darmesteter. Ph.D. She worked from 1900 in Musée Guimet, as “chargée de mission dans l’Inde”, where she travelled, together with her mother, in 1900–01, studying Parsis in Bombay and Gujarat.…
MAUSS, Marcel. Épinal (Vosges) 10.5.1872 — Paris 10.2.1950. French Sociologist and Anthropologist. Born in an Alsatian Jewish family, son of merchant Gerson Mauss and Rosine Durkheim. Studied philosophy at Bordeaux under his famous uncle É. Durkheim. After agregation (1895) studied Sanskrit (S. Lévi) and comparative religion in Paris. He had…
MASSON-OURSEL, Paul Louis. Paris 5.9.1882 — Paris 17.3.1956. French Indologist. Studied Indology (Foucher and Lévi), philosophy (Bergson) and sociology (Durkheim and Mauss), also some Chinese (Chavannes). Agrégé 1906, Ph.D. 1923. Participated in WW I as sergeant. From 1919 chargé de conférences, from 1927 Directeur d’études at É.P.H.É., sciences religieuses, in…
MASPÉRO, Henri Paul Gaston. Paris 15.12.1883 — Buchenwald 17.3.1945. French Sinologist. Son of the Egyptologist Gaston Maspéro (1846–1916, of Italian ancestry) and Louise Balluet d’Estournelles de Constant de Rebecque. After school in Paris he began himself with a study on Hellenistic Egypt, but soon turned into Sinology under —> Chavannes…
MARTIN, François. Paris 1634 — Pondichéry 31.12.1706. French Traveller in India. Illegitimate son of a wealthy spice merchant, after his death had to work as shop assistant. In 1663 joined the French E.I.C., served first in Madagascar, from 1668 in India, soon in charge of the factory in Masulipatan. In…
LUBAC, Henri-Marie Joseph Sonier de. Cambrai 20.2.1896 — Paris 4.9.1991 (when 95). S.J. French Catholic Theologian and Scholar of Comparative Religion. Cardinal of the Roman Church. Sn of a banker, of ancient nobility, schooled by Jesuits in Lyon, where the family had moved in 1898. Joined Jesuit order 1913 and…
LOISELEUR-DESLONGCHAMPS, Auguste-Louis-Armand (L. des Longchamps). Paris 14.8.1805 — Paris 10.1.1840. French Indologist. Son of the noted physician and botanist Jean-Louis-Auguste L. des L. (1774–1849; from his name are formed the plant genera Loiseleuria and Deschampsia) and Catherine Françoise Mallet (1773–1864). After Collège Charlemagne studied botany and medicine, but interrupted soon…
LITTRÉ, Michel-François. Avranches, Normandy 25.5.1765 — 20.12.1827. French Pioneer of Indology. Son of goldsmith Jean Littré and Marie Anne Liégears (1739–1768). Served in French navy and adopted revolutionary ideas. Then settled in Paris as tax-collector. In order to give good education to his sons he achieved a library and studied…
LINOSSIER, Raymonde. Lyon 25.3.1897 — 31.1./1.2.1930. French Art Historian and Indologist. Lawyer at Paris Cour d’appel. Daughter of Georges L. (1857–1923), Professor of Medicine. In WW I served as nurse, after war began law studies, graduated 1926. Also studied Indology under Lévi. Worked from 1925 as unsalaried attachée in Musée…