Michel Bral

Michel Jules Alfred Bral (March 26, 1832 - 1915), French philologist, was born at Landau in Rhenish Bavaria, of French parents. He is often identified as a founder of modern semantics. After studying at Weissenburg, Metz and Paris, he entered the Ecole Normale in 1852. In 1857 he went to Berlin, where he studied Sanskrit under Franz Bopp and Weber. On his return to France he obtained an appointment in the department of oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothque Impriale. In 1864 he became professor of comparative grammar at the College de France, in 1875 member of the Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, in 1879 inspecteur gnral for higher education until the abolition of the office in 1888. In 1890 he was made commander of the Legion of Honour. Among his works, which deal mainly with mythological and philological subjects, may be mentioned:
  • L' Etude des origines de la religion Zoroastrienne (1862), for which a prize was awarded him by the Acadmie 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)
  • Mlanges de mythologie et de linguistique (2nd. ed., 1882)
  • Leons de mots (1882, 1886)
  • Dictionnaire tymologique latin (1885)
  • Grammaire latine (1890).
  • Essai de Smantique (1897), on the signification of words, which has been translated into English by Mrs H. Cust with preface by J. P. Postgate.
  • a translation of Bopp's Comparative Grammar (1866-1874), with introductions, which is highly valued.
He has also written pamphlets on education in France, the teaching of ancient languages, and the reform of French orthography. In 1906 he published Pour mieux connaitre Homme. Michel Bral can also be credited with the invention of the marathon race. He made the suggestion to put this event on the programme of the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 to his friend Pierre de Coubertin. The event was to commemorate the Greek soldier Phidippides who, according to several legends, ran from the Battle of Marathon to either Athens or Sparta.
Bral, Michel Bral, Michel Bral, Michel

 

<< PreviousWord BrowserNext >>
gold (color)
william waldegrave palmer, 2nd earl of selborne
no quarter
hugh childers
list of romania related topics
henry alford
michael jeffery
captain corelli's mandolin
druk tsendhen
bolivianos, el hado propicio
intermeco
robert lowe, 1st viscount sherbrooke
fatshe leno la rona
kamphaeng phet province
carolyn s. shoemaker
brazilian national anthem
urushiol
allah peliharakan sultan
ralph wheeler robert lingen, 1st baron lingen
une seule nuit
james phillips kay shuttleworth
burundi bwacu
henri wallon
geography of gestricia
james darmesteter
arsne darmesteter
woad
nokoreach
canton of jura
chant de ralliement
gaston paris
beloved isles cayman
la renaissance
la tchadienne
mile thodore len gautier
friedrich christian diez
gilles mnage
blue winged teal
existence theorem
broad tailed parrot
udzima wa ya masiwa
houri
cinnamon teal
jean franois paul de gondi, cardinal de retz