Étienne François Aymonier (26 February 1844 – 21 January 1929) was a French

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and explorer. He was the first

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

to systematically survey the ruins of the

Khmer empire The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...

in today's

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

southern Vietnam Southern Vietnam () is one of the three geographical regions of Vietnam, the other two being Northern and Central Vietnam. It includes 2 administrative subregions, which in turn are divided into 19 ''First Tier units'', of which 17 are provi ...

. His principal work wa
"''Le Cambodge''"
published in three volumes from 1900 to 1904. He was born in Le Châtelard,

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

, France. He served as acting French representative for the

French protectorate of Cambodia The French protectorate of Cambodia (; ) refers to the Kingdom of Cambodia when it was a French protectorate within French Indochina, a collection of Southeast Asian protectorates within the French colonial empire. The protectorate was establi ...

from 6 January 1879 to 10 May 1881 and was the first director of the École Coloniale. He assembled a large collection of Khmer sculpture, which was later housed in the

Guimet Museum The Guimet Museum (full name in ; ''MNAAG''; ) is a Parisian art museum with one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia that includes items from Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Tibet, India, and Nepal, among other countries. Found ...

in Paris. He also wrote books on the

Cham language Cham (Cham: , Cham Jawi, Jawi: چم, Latin script: Cam) is a Malayo-Polynesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian family, spoken by the Cham people, Chams of Southeast Asia. It is spoken primarily i ...

. He died on 21 January 1929 at the age of 84.

Legacy

The species '' Gyrinocheilus aymonieri'' (Siamese algae eater) commemorates his name.Order CYPRINIFORMES: Families PSILORHYNCHIDAE, GYRINOCHEILIDAE and CATOSTOMIDAE
The ETYFish Project

Works

* *

References

People from Savoie 1844 births 1929 deaths French explorers French archaeologists Linguists from France Southeast Asian studies scholars {{Cambodia-academic-bio-stub