René Basset (24July 18554January 1924) was a French orientalist, specialist of the

Berber language The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

and the

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Biography

René Basset was the first director of the "École des lettres d'Alger" created in 1879 during the French colonisation of Algeria. A member of the société Asiatique of Paris as well as those of Leipzig and Florence, he collaborated with the ''

Journal Asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (; full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ...

'' and studied Chinese

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. André Basset and Henri Basset were his sons.

Publications

*''Étude sur la zenatia du Mzab'' *''Notes de lexicographie berbère'', 1887. sur le site Archive *''La Religion des Berbères'' de l’antiquité jusqu’à l'islam,

Les Belles Lettres Les Belles Lettres, founded in 1919, is a French publisher specialising in the publication of ancient texts such as the '' Collection Budé''. The publishing house, originally named ''Société Les Belles Lettres pour le développement de la cu ...

*''Prières des musulmans chinois'', Éditions , 1878 *''Les Manuscrits arabes de la Zaouia d'El Hamel'', Etablissement typographique Florentin, 1897 *''Recherches sur la religion des Berbères'', 1910. *Son anthologie ''Mille et un contes, récits et légendes arabes'' a été rééditée sous la direction de , chez

José Corti José Corti is a bookshop and publishing house located in Paris, France, and was founded in 1925. It is named after its founder, José Corticchiato (14 January 1895 – 25 December 1984). José Corticchiato started his business by publishing the ...

, Collection Merveilleux n° 29, 2005, 2 tomes, 504 et 702 p. (édition originale parue en 1924 chez Maisonneuve frères).

Honours

*Commandeur of the

Légion d'honneur 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 ...

*Officiere of the

Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

*Grand-officier of the Nichan Iftikhar *Commandeur of the Order of Menelik II *Chevalier of the Order of St. Sylvester

References

Bibliography

* . * Guy Basset, « Basset, René (1855-1924) », in ''L'Algérie et la France'', (p. 96–97) {{DEFAULTSORT:Basset, Rene 1855 births People from Lunéville 1924 deaths French orientalists Linguists from France Knights of the Order of St. Sylvester French Arabists Commanders of the Legion of Honour Berberologists Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Ethiopia