Michel Bréal
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Michel Jules Alfred Bréal (; 26 March 183225 November 1915), French
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
, was born at
Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...
in Rhenish Palatinate. He is often identified as a founder of modern
semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
. He was also the creator of the modern
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...
race, having proposed its first running at the 1896 Olympic Games and offered what would become known as Breal's Silver Cup to the winner.


Life and career

Michel Bréal was born at
Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...
in Germany of French-Jewish parents.Michel Bréal (1832–1915), A forgotten precursor of enunciation and subjectivity Arnaud Fournet After studying at Wissembourg,
Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
and
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, he entered the
École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
in 1852. In 1857 he went to Berlin, where he studied
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
under
Franz Bopp Franz Bopp (; 14 September 1791 â€“ 23 October 1867) was a German linguistics, linguist known for extensive and pioneering comparative linguistics, comparative work on Indo-European languages. Early life Bopp was born in Mainz, but the pol ...
and Albrecht Weber. On his return to France he obtained an appointment in the department of oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Impériale. In 1864 he became professor of comparative grammar at the Collège de France, in 1875 member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...
, in 1879 ''inspecteur général'' for higher education until the abolition of the office in 1888. In 1890 he was made commander of the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
. He resigned his chair in 1905, and died in Paris. In 1883, Bréal coined the term
semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
in the article "Les lois intellectuelles du langage. Fragment de sémantique" published in the journal ''Annuaire de l'association des études grecques en France'' (page 133).Michel Bréal, "Les lois intellectuelles du langage. Fragment de sémantique", ''Annuaire de l'association des études grecques en France'' 17 (1883) 132–142
Text on JSTOR
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Invention of the modern marathon

Bréal is credited with the invention of the
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...
race. He attended the 1894 Founding Congress of the International Olympic Committee at the Sorbonne in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
; at its concluding dinner, he was seated next to the father of the modern games,
Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; 1 January 1863 – 2 September 1937), also known as Pierre de Coubertin and Baron de Coubertin, was a French educator and historian, co-founder of the International Olympic ...
. Soon after the congress, on September 15, 1894, Bréal sent Coubertin a letter outlining his idea: ' The legend of the ancient run — the run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides to announce victory at the Battle of Marathon to either Athens — had become more culturally prominent in late 19th-century Europe.
Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...
's 1879 poem "Pheidippides" had brought the story to wider attention, as had an 1890 archeological dig of the Marathon tumuli. Before Bréal's proposal, the 1896 Olympics had not planned any races longer than 1500 meters; some argued that such a long distance was "contrary to the principles of sport and of hygiene." As part of his sponsorship of the race, Bréal had a Paris jeweler create Breal's Silver Cup for the winner, who ended up being the Greek Spyros Louis.


Works

Among his works, which deal mainly with mythological and philological subjects, may be mentioned: *''L'Étude des origines de la religion zoroastrienne'' (1862), for which a prize was awarded him by the Académie des Inscriptions *''Hercule et Cacus'' (1863), in which he disputes the principles of the symbolic school in the interpretation of myths *''Le Mythe d'Œdipe'' (1864) *''Les Tables eugubines'' (1875) *''Mélanges de mythologie et de linguistique'' (2nd. ed., 1882) *''Leçons de mots'' (1882, 1886) *''Dictionnaire étymologique latin'' (1885) *''Grammaire latine'' (1890). *''Essai de sémantique'' (1897), on the signification of words, which was translated into English by Mrs Emmeline Cust with preface by J. P. Postgate. *a translation of Bopp's ''Comparative Grammar'' (1866–1874), with introductions, which is highly valued. He also wrote pamphlets on education in France, the teaching of ancient languages, and the reform of French orthography. In 1906 he published ''Pour mieux connaitre Homère''. * Hans W. Giessen, Heinz-Helmut Lüger, Günther Volz (Hrsg.): Michel Bréal – Grenzüberschreitende Signaturen. Verlag Empirische Pädagogik, Landau 2007 * Hans W. Giessen & Heinz Helmut Lüger (2024), « Michel Bréal, L’homme qui a inventé le Marathon ». In: Alexandre Farnoux, Violaine Jeammet, Christina Mitsopoulou (Eds.) (2024), L’Olympisme, une invention moderne, un héritage antique. Paris: Éditions du Louvre, Hazan. 26–33. (Catalogue of the exhibition at the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
). * Hans W. Giessen: Mythos Marathon. Von Herodot über Bréal bis zur Gegenwart. (= Landauer Schriften zur Kommunikations- und Kulturwissenschaft. Band 17). Verlag Empirische Pädagogik, Landau 2010, . * Heinz-Helmut Lüger (dir.), Hans W. Giessen (dir.) et Bernard Weigel (dir.), Entre la France et l'Allemagne : Michel Bréal, intellectuel engagé, Limoges, Lambert-Lucas, 2012 () * Brigitte Nerlich: Michel Bréal: mettre l’homme dans la langue. In: Penser l’histoire des savoirs linguistiques. Hommage à Sylvain Auroux. Textes réunis par Sylvie Archaimbault Jean-Marie Fournier & Valérie Raby, 611–619. Lyon: ENS, 2013. (). * Jan Noordegraaf: Salient scholars. Michel Bréal and his Dutch connections. In: Penser l’histoire des savoirs linguistiques. Hommage à Sylvain Auroux. Textes réunis par Sylvie Archaimbault Jean-Marie Fournier & Valérie Raby, 621–632. Lyon: ENS, 2013. (). http://hdl.handle.net/1871/51333


References


External links

* Michel Bréal Society
Michel-Bréal-Gesellschaft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breal, Michel People from Landau 1832 births 1915 deaths French philologists École Normale Supérieure alumni Marathon running Commanders of the Legion of Honour Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Academic staff of the École pratique des hautes études