An Arabic-French dictionary for the modern world

Bocthor, Ellious / Caussin de Perceval, Armand Pierre. Dictionnaire Français-Arabe.

€ 3,500.00

First edition, edited by Caussin de Percival, with his pencil signature under the preface. One of the first complete French-Arabic dictionaries. Ellious Bocthor (1784-1821) was one of the many professional interpreters hired from the local populations of North Africa by the Armée d'Orient during Napoleon's invasion of Ottoman Egypt and Syria. Coptic by birth, Bocthor later travelled to Europe in the aftermath of the French defeat and withdrawal. After a period spent as an interpreter at the General War Depot under the protection of the duc de Feltre, in January 1821 he was appointed professor of Vulgar Arabic at the École des Langues Orientales in Paris; it was during this time that he compiled his dictionary. Written during the 19th century surge in Arab interest in the modern hard sciences, Bocthor's dictionary reflects many of the new technical terms flooding into Arabic to meet the needs of new technologies and new lifestyles.