Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France.[1] Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise enamored him with the Chinese language, and he spent five years teaching himself to read it. After publishing several well-received articles on Chinese topics, a chair in Chinese was created at the Collège de France in 1814 and Rémusat was placed in it.
Rémusat was born in Paris on 5 September 1788 and was educated for the medical profession, earning a doctorate in medicine in 1813.[2] While studying medicine, Rémusat discovered a Chinese herbal treatise in the collection of the Abbé Tersan and was immediately fascinated by it. He taught himself to read it by tirelessly studying the traditional Chinese dictionary Zhengzitong. In 1811, at the end of five years of study, he produced the work Essai sur la langue et la littérature chinoises (Essay on Chinese language and literature),[3] and a paper on foreign languages among the Chinese, which procured him the patronage of Silvestre de Sacy.[4] In 1813, Rémusat published an essay in Latin on the nature of Chinese characters and Classical Chinese entitled "Utrum Lingua Sinica sit vere monosyllabica? Disputatio philologica, in qua de Grammatica Sinica obiter agiture; autore Abelo de Remusat".[2]
Rémusat's early publications established his reputation in the academic community, and on November 29, 1814, a chair in Chinese was created for him at the Collège de France.[5] This date, or, alternatively, the date of his inaugural lecture (January 16, 1815), has been termed "the birth-year of [academic] sinology."[6] Rémusat's course in Chinese at the Collège de France focused on lectures on grammar and the study of classical texts such as the Hallowed Documents (Shàngshū), the Laozi (Dao De Jing), the Nestorian Stele, and both Chinese and Manchu editions of the accounts of the life of Confucius.[7] His lecture notes were eventually edited into book form, modeled on Joseph de Prémare's earlier grammar, and published in 1822 as Élémens de la grammaire chinoise, ou Principes généraux du Kou-wen ou style antique, et du Kouan-hou, c'est-à-dire, de la language commune généralement usitée dans l'empire chinois (Elements of Chinese Grammar, or General Principles of Gǔwén or Ancient Style, and of Guānhuà, that is to say, the Common Language Generally Used in the Chinese Empire).[8] This work was the first scientific exposition of the Chinese language in Europe, and was later praised by Henri Maspero as "the first [work] in which the grammar was isolated to take account of the proper spirit of the Chinese language, and not just as a translation exercise where all the grammatical forms of the European languages [...] imposed their individual patterns."[9]
Rémusat became an editor of the Journal des savants in 1818.[4] Amid other misunderstanding of his sources, his self-assured misreading of the Japanesemujintō (無人島, "desert island[s]") in an 1817 article for the journal[10] was responsible for the name of the Bonin Islands.[11] He was the founder and first secretary of the Société asiatique at Paris in 1822; he also held various Government appointments.[4]
Around 1830 Rémusat was commissioned to inventory the Chinese items held in the French Royal Library, which inspired him to begin a translation of the bibliographical sections of the Wenxian tongkao to assist European scholars in studying Chinese scholarship.[13] He completed the first volume, "Classics", in 1832, but contracted cholera and died before it was printed.[13] Rémusat is buried along with his wife Jenny Lecamus – the daughter of Jean Lecamus, a former mayor of Paris – near the church of St. Fargeau in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, Seine-et-Marne.
"Note sur Quelques Épithétes Descriptives du Bouddha [Note on Certain Descriptive Epithets of the Buddha]", Journal des Savans[Journal of the Learnèd] (in French), Paris: Royal Printing Office, 1819, pp. 387–396.
Description du Royaume de Cambodge par un Voyageur Chinois qui a Visité Cette contrée à la Fin du XIII Siècle, Précédée d'une Notice Chronologique sur Ce Même Pays, Extraité des Annales de la Chine [Description of the Kingdom of Cambodia by a Chinese Traveller who Visited at the End of the 13th Century, Preceded by a Chronological Notice on This Same Country Extracted from the Chinese Annals] (in French), Paris: James Smith, 1819.
"Sur la Succession des 33 Premiers Patriarches de la Religion de Bouddha [On the Succession of the First 33 Patriarchs of the Religion of Buddha]", Journal des Savans[Journal of the Learnèd] (in French), Paris: Royal Printing Office, 1821, p. 4.
"Aperçu d'un Mémoire sur l'Origine de la Hiérarchie Lamaique [Outline of an Essay on the Origin of the Tibetan Buddhist Hierarchy]", Journal Asiatique [Asiatic Journal] (in French), vol. 4, Paris: Société Asiatique, 1824, p. 257.
"Observations sur Trois Mémoires de De Guignes Insérés dans le Tome XI. de la Collection de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres et Relatifs à la Religion Samanéenne [Observations on Three Essays by De Guignes Inserted into Vol. XI of the Collection of the Academy of Inscriptions and Literature and Relating to Indian Asceticism]", Nouveau Journal Asiatique... [New Asiatic Journal...], 2 (in French), vol. 7, Paris: Société Asiatique, 1831, pp. 265, 269, 301.
Foé Koué Ki, ou, Relations des Royaumes Bouddhiques: Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan, et dans l'Inde Exécuté à la Fin du IVe Siècle par Chy Fa Hian [The Foguoji 佛國記, or, Relations of the Buddhist Kingdoms: The Voyage through Tartary, Afghanistan, and India Carried Out at the End of the 4th Century by Shi Faxian] (in French), Paris: Royal Printing Office, 1836, completed and expanded by Julius Klaproth and E.A.X.C. de Landresse.
Rousseau, Jean; Thouard, Denis, eds. (1999), Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses sur la Langue Chinoise: Un Débat Philosopho-Grammatical entre Wilhelm von Humboldt et Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1821–1831)... [Edifying and Curious Letters on the Chinese Language: A Philosophico-Grammatical Debate between Wilhelm von Humboldt and Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1821–1831)], Problématiques Philosophiques, Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, a scholarly collection of his correspondence with Wilhelm von Humboldt edited by Jean Rousseau and Denis Thouard.
Much of the bibliography above has been drawn from Schlagintweit.[14]
In addition, Rémusat's practical and scholarly contributions in bringing the Dutch JapanologistIsaac Titsingh's unfinished manuscripts to posthumous publication deserve acknowledgment. These works include Nihon Ōdai Ichiran (日本王代一覧, "Table of the rulers of Japan"), and also:
Rémusat, A., éditeur. Mémoires et Anecdotes sur la Dynastie régnante des Djogouns, Souverains du Japon, avec la description des fêtes et cérémonies observées aux différentes époques de l'année à la Cour de ces Princes, et un appendice contenant des détails sur la poésie des Japonais, leur manière de diviser l'année, etc.; Ouvrage orné de Planches gravées et coloriées, tiré des Originaux Japonais par M. Isaac Titsingh; publié avec des Notes et Eclaircissemens Par M. Abel Rémusat. Paris (Nepveu), 1820.
^Schlagintweit, Emil (1863), Buddhism in Tibet, Leipzig: Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, Appendix A.
Works cited
Honey, David B. (2001). Incense at the Altar: Pioneering Sinologists and the Development of Classical Chinese Philology. American Oriental Series 86. New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriental Society.
Biography
China
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rémusat, Jean Pierre Abel". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 83.
