William McGuckin (also Mac Guckin and MacGuckin), known as Baron de Slane (
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, Ireland, 12 August 1801 - Paris, France, 4 August 1878) was an Irish orientalist. He became a French national on 31 December 1838. and held the post of the Principal Interpreter of Arabic of the French Army from 1 September 1846 until his retirement on 28 March 1872. He is known for publishing and translating a number of important medieval Arabic texts.
Biography
De Slane was born in Belfast, the son of James McGuckin and Euphemia Hughes.
[ ] After graduating from
Trinity College Dublin, in 1822
[ he moved to Paris and studied oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy.
In 1828 he was admitted to the Société Asiatique, a French ]learned society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership ma ...
. The society financed Joseph Toussaint Reinaud
Joseph Toussaint Reinaud (4 December 1795 – 14 May 1867) was a French orientalist.
Life
Joseph Toussaint Reinaud was born at Lambesc, Bouches-du-Rhône. He came to Paris in 1815, and became a pupil of Silvestre de Sacy. In 1818-19 he was at ...
and de Slane to prepare a critical edition of Abu'l-Fida
Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Shāhanshāh b. Ayyūb b. Shādī b. Marwān ( ar, إسماعيل بن علي بن محمود بن محمد بن عمر بن شاهنشاه بن أيوب بن شادي بن مروان ...
(أبو الفداء)'s Arabic geography, ''Taqwīm al-Buldān'' (تقويم البلدان) - "Locating the Lands" (1321). This was published in 1840.[
Between 1843 and 1846 he was sent on a mission by the French Government to catalogue important documents in the libraries of ]Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
and Constantine.[ During this time he also served as an Interpreter of Arabic in the French African Army and in 1846 he was appointed as Principal Interpreter for the French African army.] He served as Professor of Arabic at the École de langues orientales in Paris and from 1849 also taught Turkish.[ He was also commissioned by the ]Bibliothèque Nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
to catalogue their Arabic manuscripts.[
On 30 October 1826 he married Angadrème Sophie Félicité de la Barre de Mérona. She died seven years later on 24 September 1833. He then married Anne Elise Sutton de Clonard and together they had five children.][ De Slane was awarded French citizenship on 31 December 1838.][ He died aged 76 in Passy, France on the 4 August 1878.][
In France he was awarded following honours:
* ]Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
, 24 September 1846
* Officer of the Legion of Honour, 26 December 1852
* Officer of the Instruction Publique
* Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, awarded by King of Sardinia
* Elected Member, 1862, of the Institut de France
* Founding Member of the Association Historique Algérienne
Selected publications
Arabic text of Abu'l-Fida
Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd b. Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Shāhanshāh b. Ayyūb b. Shādī b. Marwān ( ar, إسماعيل بن علي بن محمود بن محمد بن عمر بن شاهنشاه بن أيوب بن شادي بن مروان ...
's ''Takwin al-Buldan'', one volume, 1840
*
Translation of a section of Ibn Battuta's rihla, 1843
*
Translation of Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary, four volumes, 1843-1871
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*
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Arabic text of Ibn Khaldun's ''Histoire des Berbères'', 2 volumes, 1847-1851
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*
Translation of Ibn Khaldun's ''Histoire des Berbères'', 4 volumes, 1852-1856
*
*
*
*
Translation of ''Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...
'', 1859, one volume
Revised edition with corrections
(1913), Tangiers: Adolphe Jourdan.
Translation of Ibn Khaldun's '' Muqaddimah'' (''Prolegomena''), three volumes, 1863-1868
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Slane, William McGuckin de
Irish orientalists
Irish Arabists
French Arabists
French philologists
Members of the Société Asiatique
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
French translators
Arabic–French translators
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Recipients of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Writers from Belfast
1801 births
1878 deaths