P. D. Huetius
Pierre Daniel Huet (; la, Huetius; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar,
editor of the
Delphin Classics
The ''Delphin Classics'' or ''Ad usum Delphini'' was a series of annotated editions of the Latin classics, intended to be comprehensive, which was originally created in the 17th century.
The first volumes were created in the 1670s for Louis, ''le ...
, founder of the Académie de Physique in
Caen (1662-1672) and
Bishop of Soissons from 1685 to 1689 and afterwards of
Avranches.
Life
He was born in
Caen in 1630, and educated at the
Jesuit school there. He also received lessons from a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
pastor,
Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart (30 May 1599 – 16 May 1667) was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet. His two-volume '' Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan'' (Caen 1646) exerted a profound in ...
. By the age of twenty he was recognized as one of the most promising scholars of his time. In 1651 he went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, where he formed a friendship with
Gabriel Naudé
Gabriel Naudé (2 February 1600 – 10 July 1653) was a French librarian and scholar. He was a prolific writer who produced works on many subjects including politics, religion, history and the supernatural. An influential work on library science ...
, conservator of the
Mazarin Library. In the following year Samuel Bochart, being invited by Queen
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
to her court at
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, took his friend Huet with him. This journey, in which he saw
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, as well as Stockholm, resulted chiefly in the discovery, in the Swedish royal library, of some fragments of
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
's ''Commentary on St Matthew'', which gave Huet the idea of editing and translating Origen into Latin, a task he completed in 1668. He eventually quarrelled with Bochart, who accused him of having suppressed a line in Origen in the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
ic controversy. While working on Origen's Greek text, Huet wrote a separate treatise on translation history, theory, and practice, the "De optimo genere interpretandi" ("On the best kind of translating") in two books (first published 1660; 3rd and last ed. Amsterdam, 1683).
Huet was also the cofounder of the Académie de Physique in Caen, the first provincial academy of science to be granted a royal charter (1668). Huet was the initial patron of the academy, and along with Andre Graindorge, directed the work of the group, which focused on the empirical study of nature, with a special emphasis on anatomy and dissections. Huet's presence was critical to the success of the academy, which floundered without his continued presence. He acted as head of the group from 1662–1667, and again in 1668, when he left Caen again for Paris. He also ended his financial support of the academy at this time, as it began to receive royal funding and direction from the royal representative in Normandy, Guy Chamillart.
In Paris he entered into close relations with
Jean Chapelain
Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...
. During the famous "
dispute of Ancients and Moderns
The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns (french: link=no, querelle des Anciens et des Modernes) began overtly as a literature, literary and artistic debate that heated up in the early 17th century and shook the ''Académie Française''.
Ori ...
", Huet took the side of the Ancients against
Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...
and
Jean Desmarets
Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (1595 – 28 October 1676) was a French writer and dramatist. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1634.
Biography
Born in Paris, Desmarets was introduced ...
. Among his friends at this period were
Valentin Conrart
Valentin Conrart (; 1603 – 23 September 1675) was a French author, and as a founder of the Académie française, the first occupant of seat 2.
Biography
He was born in Paris of Calvinist parents, and was educated for business. However, afte ...
and
Paul Pellisson
Paul Pellisson (30 October 1624 – 7 February 1693) was a French author.
Pellisson was born in Béziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at the bar of Castres. Going to Paris with letters of intr ...
. His taste for
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
led him to the study of
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
. He next turned his attention to
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
, and, being
short-sighted, devoted his inquiries mainly to the question of vision and the formation of the eye. In the course of this study, he made more than 800 dissections. He then learned all that was then to be learned in
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
, and wrote a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
poem on salt.
All this time he was a frequent visitor to the salons of
Mlle de Scudéry
Mademoiselle () is a French courtesy title, abbreviated Mlle, traditionally given to an unmarried woman. The equivalent in English is " Miss". The courtesy title "Madame" is accorded women where their marital status is unknown.
From around 1970 ...
and the studios of painters; his scientific researches did not interfere with his classical studies, for during this time he was discussing with Bochart the origin of certain medals, and was learning
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
under the Jesuit
Adrien Parvilliers.
Huet was admitted to the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
in 1674. He took holy orders in 1676, and two years later the king made him abbot of
Aunay. In 1685 he became Bishop of Soissons, but after waiting for installation for four years he took the
bishopric of Avranches instead. He exchanged the cares of his bishopric for what he thought would be the easier chair of the
Abbey of Fontenay
The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, in the département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and built in the Romanesque style
Romane ...
, but there he was vexed with continual lawsuits. At length he retired to the Jesuits' House in the Rue Saint-Antoine at Paris, where he died in 1721. His great library and manuscripts, after being bequeathed to the Jesuits, were bought by the king for the royal library.
Works
He translated the pastorals of
Longus
Longus, sometimes Longos ( el, Λόγγος), was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, ''Daphnis and Chloe''. Nothing is known of his life; it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos (setting for ''Daphnis and Chloe'') during ...
, wrote a tale called ''Diane de Castro'', and gave with his ''
Traitté de l'origine des romans
Pierre Daniel Huet's Trai é de l'origine des Romans (''Treatise on the Origin of Novels'', or ''Romances'') can claim to be the first history of fiction. It was originally published in 1670 as preface to Marie de la Fayette's novel ''Zayde''. ...
'' (1670), his ''Treatise on the Origin of Romances'' the first world history of fiction. On being appointed assistant tutor to the
Dauphin in 1670, he edited, with the assistance of
Anne Lefêvre (afterwards Madame Dacier) and
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a m ...
, the well-known book series, the ''
Delphin Classics
The ''Delphin Classics'' or ''Ad usum Delphini'' was a series of annotated editions of the Latin classics, intended to be comprehensive, which was originally created in the 17th century.
The first volumes were created in the 1670s for Louis, ''le ...
'' (referred to in the original Latin as the "Ad usum Delphini" series). This series published comprehensive editions of the Latin classics in about sixty volumes, and each work was accompanied by a Latin commentary, ''ordo verborum'', and verbal index. The original volumes have each an engraving of
Arion
Arion (; grc-gre, Ἀρίων; fl. c. 700 BC) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb. The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant ...
and a
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
, and the appropriate inscription ''in usum serenissimi Delphini''.
In addition to Huet's edition and translation of the ancient Greek theologian Origen, Huet published two works on the history and process of translation itself, "De optimo genere interpretandi" ("On the best kind of translating") and "De claris interpretibus" ("On famous translators"; 3rd and last ed 1683).
He issued one of his major works, the ''Demonstratio evangelica'', in 1679. At Aulnay he wrote his ''Questiones Aletuanae'' (Caen, 1690), his ''Censura philosophiae Cartesianae'' (Paris, 1689), his ''Nouveau mémoire pour servir à l'histoire du Cartésianisme'' (''New Memoirs to Serve The History of Cartesianism'', 1692), and his discussion with
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...
on the Sublime.
In the ''Huetiana'' (1722) of the abbé d'Olivet will be found material for arriving at an idea of his prodigious labours, exact memory and wide scholarship. Another posthumous work was his ''Traité philosophique de la faiblesse de l'esprit humain'' (original spelling: ''Traité philosophique de la foiblesse de l’esprit humain'') (Amsterdam, 1723), which he considered to be his best work. His autobiography, found in his ''Commentarius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus'' (Paris, 1718), has been translated into French and into English.
According to
:fr:Maurice Rat,
[Maurice Rat, ''Grammairiens et amateurs de beau langage'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1963, p. 100.] Huet "was after
Ménage the best etymologist of his time". For example, it was he who understood that the final "bec" of certain toponyms of French Normandy (as
Houlbec) means "stream" and is related to the German word of the same meaning "Bach", also present at the end of many toponyms.
Legacy
The lycée in
Hérouville-Saint-Clair
Hérouville-Saint-Clair () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France.
It is a suburb of the city of Caen, and lies adjacent to it in a northeasterly direction, along the west side of the Canal de Cae ...
,
Calvados
Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears.
History In France
Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norm ...
, was formerly named after Huet, though it has now ceased to be so.
References
Sources
* Pierre Daniel Huet, ''Against Cartesian Philosophy (Censura Philosophiae Cartesianae)''. Amherst: Humanity Books 2003.
* April G. Shelford, ''Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720'' (Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 2007).
* James Albert DeLater, "Translation Theory in the Age of Louis XIV: The 1683 'De optimo genere interpretandi' ('On the best kind of translating') of Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721)" (St. Jerome Publishing, Manchester UK, 2002).
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Huet, Pierre Daniel
1630 births
1721 deaths
Writers from Caen
French Jesuits
Members of the Académie Française
17th-century French Roman Catholic bishops
Bishops of Avranches
Bishops of Soissons
17th-century French writers
17th-century French male writers
17th-century Latin-language writers
18th-century Latin-language writers
Clergy from Caen