Albert Félix Ignace Kazimirski or Albin de Biberstein (20 November 1808 – 22 June 1887) was a French orientalist and Arabist of Polish origin, author of an Arabic-French dictionary and a number of Arab-French translations, including the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

Biography

He learned oriental languages at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

and later

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. He took part in the 1830

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

of the

kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...

against the Czar of Russia and the King of Poland

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I , group=pron ( – ) was List of Russian rulers, Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I of Russia, Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I ...

. Like many other Poles, after the defeat of the Polish army in September 1831, he chose to go into exile in France, where he traveled with the historian

Joachim Lelewel Joachim Lelewel (22 March 1786 – 29 May 1861) was a Polish historian, geographer, bibliographer, polyglot and politician. Life Born in Warsaw to a Polonized German family, Lelewel was educated at the Imperial University of Vilna, where in 18 ...

. In 1834, alongside

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

and Bohdan Zaleski, he founded the Slavic Society (''Towarszystwo słowiańskie'') of Paris. He also wrote a Polish-French dictionary. Then he became a

dragoman A dragoman or Interpretation was an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts. A ...

, providing interpretation of languages for the representatives of France to the Levantine ''échelles'', and was attached to the mission of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He contributed to the revision of the second translation of the

into French based on the 1783 works of

Claude-Étienne Savary Claude-Étienne Savary (1750 in Vitré, Ille-et-Vilaine – 1788) was an orientalist, pioneer of Egyptology and translator of the Qur'an. Publications *1782–1783: ''Le Coran, traduit de l'arabe, accompagné de notes, et précédé d'un abrégé ...

. He eventually created his own translation drawing on the earlier works of the Italian cleric

Louis Maracci Ludovico Marracci (6 October 1612 – 5 February 1700), also known by Luigi Marracci, was an Italians, Italian Oriental studies, Oriental scholar and professor of Arabic in the Sapienza University of Rome, College of Wisdom at Rome. He is chiefly ...

(1698) and the English

George Sale George Sale (1697–1736) was a British Orientalist scholar and practising solicitor, best known for his 1734 translation of the Quran into English. In 1748, after having read Sale's translation, Voltaire wrote his own essay "De l'Alcoran ...

(1734) and later published for the first time in 1840. Albert Kazimirski de Biberstein is buried at Montrouge Cemetery.

Works

*1840 (or 1852): '' Le Koran, traduction nouvelle faite sur le texte arabe'' / par M. Kasimirski, interprète de la légation française en Perseage 1841, 1844, Paris, Charpentier, 511 p., 1970, Garnier

Flammarion Flammarion may refer to: * Camille Flammarion (1842–1925), French astronomer and author * Gabrielle Renaudot Flammarion (1877–1962), French astronomer, wife of Camille Flammarion * Flammarion engraving by unknown artist; appeared in a book by C ...

, with a preface by

Mohammed Arkoun Mohammed Arkoun ( ar, محمد أركون; 1 February 1928 – 14 September 2010) was an Algerian scholar and thinker. He was considered to have been one of the most influential secular scholars in Islamic studies contributing to contemporary inte ...

, and 1997, Jean de Bonnot *1860: ''Dictionnaire arabe-français, contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l'idiome vulgaire que dans l'idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d'Alger et de Maroc'', Paris, Maisonneuve et Cie, 2 volumes, 1392 and 2369 pages. (reprinted in 1944, Beyrouth, éditions du Liban, and 2005, édition Albouraq) *1886:
Manoutchehri: Poète persan du 11^ème siècle de notre ère (du 5^ième de l'hégire)
': Texte, traduction, notes, et introduction historique. Paris. Klincksieck.
Another copy, dated 1887
. * ''Dialogues français-persans : précédés d'un précis de la grammaire persane et suivis d'un vocabulaire français-persan''. * ''Enis el-Djelis ou Histoire de la belle Persane. Conte des Mille et une nuits'', traduit de l'arabe et accompagné de notes par Albert de Biberstein Kazimirski.

References

Bibliography

* Kazimirski (Albert-Félix-Ignace de Biberstein), in '' Grand dictionnaire universel du XIX^e siècle'', tome 17.

External links

Albert de Biberstein-Kazimirski
on Open Library
Albin de Kazimirski Biberstein
on Wikisource
Dictionnaire Arabe-français tome I

tome II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kazimirski Biberstein, Albert November Uprising participants French orientalists French scholars of Islam French Arabists Translators of the Quran into French 19th-century French translators Arabic–French translators Writers from Lublin 1808 births 1887 deaths Polish emigrants to France