Jacques de Tourreil (

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, 18 November 1656 – Paris, 11 October 1714) was a French jurist,

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and man of letters.

Biography

The author of translations of

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...

and essays on

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

, Tourreil was elected to the Académie royale des inscriptions et médailles in 1691, the Académie française in 1692 and the Académie des Jeux floraux in 1694. Being both an orator and a contributor to the first edition of the ''

Dictionnaire de l'Académie française The ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'' is the official dictionary of the French language. The Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations ...

'', he was given the responsibility of presenting the dictionary to the court, which he fulfilled on 24 August 1694 by delivering the compliments of the Académie to the King, the royal family and the ministers in a celebrated speech.

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

replied to the delegation of academicians: "Messieurs, voici un ouvrage attendu depuis longtemps. Puisque tant d'habiles gens y ont travaillé, je ne doute pas qu'il soit très beau et très utile pour la langue.""Gentlemen, this is a long awaited work. Since so many clever people have worked on it, I have no doubt that it is very beautiful and very useful for the language." Quoted in Ferdinand Brunot, '' Histoire de la langue française, des origines à 1900'', vol. IV, 1939. The works of Jacques de Tourreil were collected and published in two volumes by Guillaume Massieu in 1721.

References

Bibliography

*Georges Duhain, ''Un Traducteur de la fin du XVIIIe : Jacques de Tourreil, traducteur de Démosthène (1656–1714)'', Honoré Champion, Paris, 1910.

External links

Académie française
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tourreil 1656 births 1714 deaths Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the Académie Française Translators to French Translators from Greek French classical scholars 17th-century French lawyers French legal writers French male non-fiction writers 17th-century French translators