HUART, CLÉMENT

 

HUART, CLÉMENT (Marie-Clément Imbault-Huart, dit), French orientalist (b. 16 February 1854 in Paris, d. 30 December 1926 in Paris). He is especially renowned as editor and translator of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish sources and for his prolific works covering this vast linguistic area, from Morocco to the Turko-Persian zone. He dealt with many aspects of Oriental studies, including art and literature, calligraphy, history of religions, linguistics (grammar, dialectology), philology, and political history.

Son of a lawyer, he started studying Arabic at the age of 14 with Amand Caussin de Perceval (d. 1871, professor of colloquial Arabic and dialects at the Ecole des langues orientales). He graduated in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Modern Greek, at the Ecole des langues orientales. He then became a pupil of the Ecole pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences religieuses, where he wrote his thesis: (translation of) “Cheref-ed-din Râmi, Anis-el ‘Ochchâq, Traité des termes relatifs à la beauté” (Bibliothèque de l’EPHE, fasc. 25, 1875;(see ANIS AL-ʿOŠŠĀQ). He was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent as student dragoman to Damascus (1875-78). He served at Constantinople as vice-consul and consul (1878-98). Upon Charles Schefer’s death (1898), he took over the chair of Persian at the Ecole des langues orientales, where he was succeeded by Henri Massé (1886-1969). In 1908, he was also appointed Directeur d’études of Islam and religions of Arabia at the EPHE, Section des sciences religieuses. He also kept his appointment as “secrétaire-interprète” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he left as “Consul général de France” in 1912. In January 1919, he was elected to the Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres, over which he presided in 1927. He was a member of the Société asiatique (1898, vice-president 1916-26) and the Académie des sciences coloniales, president of the Société de linguistique (1903-04, 1918) and of the Société d’ethnographie. He participated in congresses of orientalists: Algiers, 1905; Copenhagen, 1908; Cairo, 1909.

His erudite knowledge of Oriental studies was further served by his good command of European languages (English, German, Italian). His achievements in the fields of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish studies were praised by his biographers (see bibliog). According to his contemporaries, his “secret preferences” were for Arabic (Boyer), and he knew Turkish better than Persian, which he pronounced “un peu à la turque” (Jean Deny, in Cent-cinquantenaire de l’Ecole des langues orientales, Paris, 1948, p. 29). He was repeatedly quoted by E. G. Browne for his contributions to Persian studies in dialectology, the dialectal poetry of Bābā Ṭāher (q.v.), linguistics, literary history, horufism, etc. (see Lit. Hist. Persia, 4 vols., index). Browne points out Huart’s refusal to apply the term “Dari” to some Persian dialects which he includes under the general appellation of “Pehlevi Musulman” or “Modern Medic” (A Year Amongst thePersians, London, 1893; repr., London, 1984, pp. 204-5; Lit. Hist. Persia I, pp. 26-27). His works retain some of their interest, although they are partly superseded (mainly the notes, based on outdated historical sources). Many of his numerous articles in the first edition of the Encyclopædia of Islam were reprinted in the second edition (sometimes revised and with additional bibliography).

Clément Huart’s younger brother, Camille-Clément Imbault-Huart (b. 1857, Paris; d. 1897, Hong Kong) was a sinologist who spent his brief career in China as a dragoman and consul. Among his contributions, he left a Recueil de documents sur l’Asie centrale (tr. from Chinese), Paris, 1881 (see Meyer).

 

Bibliography:

Biographical references. H. Blémont, “HUART (Marie-Clément IMBAULT HUART dit),” in Roman d’Amat et al., Dictionnaire de biographie française XVII, 1986, cols. 1382-83.

C. Meyer, “IMBAULT-HUART (Camille-Clément),” ibid., XVIII, 1989, cols. 147-48.

P. Boyer, “Clément Huart (1854-1926),” article in Le Temps, Paris, 2 January 1927 (quoted from an unsigned article in Revue d’ethnographie et des traditions populaires 29-30, 1927, pp. 1-3).

A. Cabaton, “Clément Huart,” Comptes rendus de l’Académie des sciences coloniales 8,1926-27, pp. 553-55 (with a photograph).

J.-B. Chabot, “Funérailles de M. Clément Huart” (eulogy), Institut de France. Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres, 1927, fasc. 1, pp. 1-3.

E. Sénart, “Discours” (Clément Huart’s obituary), JA, 1927/1, pp. 186-89.

Works. Clément Huart’s works cover almost equally, in quantity, the three linguistic fields of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. While precedence is given here to the Persian domain, only his most important books and contributions to periodicals (Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie desinscriptions et belles lettres [CRAIBL], JA, Journal des savants, Mémoires de la société de linguistique [MSL], Revue critique, Revue historique, RHR, RMM, T’oung Pao, etc.) are listed below.

Persian studies. “Mémoire sur la fin de la dynastie des Ilékhaniens,” JA, 7e sér., 8, 1876, pp. 316-66.

“La poésie religieuse des Nosaïris,” JA, 7e sér., 14, 1879; pp. 190-261.

“Les quatrains de Baba Tahir ‘Uryan en pehlevi musulman,” JA, 8e sér., 6, l885, pp. 502-45.

“Nouveaux quatrains de Baba Tahir ‘Uryan,” in Spiegel Memorial Volume, ed. J. J. Modi, Bombay, 1908, pp. 290-302.

La religion de Bab, Paris, 1889.

“Le dialecte persan de Siwênd,” JA, 9e sér., 1, 1893, pp. 241-65.

Grammaire élémentaire de la langue persane, Paris, 1899.

“Inscriptions arabes et persanes des mosquées chinoises de K’ai-fong-fou et de Si-ngan-fou,” T’oung Pao, 2e sér., 6, 1905, pp. 261-320.

“Selmân du Fârs,” Mélanges Hartwig Derenbourg, Paris, 1909, pp. 297-310.

“Les légendes épiques de la région de Ghazna (Afghanistan),” CRAIBL, 1916, pp. 579-87.

Textes persans relatifs à la secte des Houroufîs, publiés, traduits et annotés par Clément Huart, suivis d’une étude sur la religion des Houroufîs par le Dr. Riza Tevfiq, Leiden, 1909 (G.M.S. IX).

“Documents de l’Asie centrale (Mission Pelliot). Trois actes notariés arabes de Yârkand,” JA, 11e sér., 4, 1914, pp. 607-27.

Les saints des derviches tourneurs. Récits traduits du persan et annotés (tr. of Aflāki [q.v.], Manāqeb al-ʿārefin), 2 vols., Paris, 1918-22.

“Les Mosâfirides de l’Adherbaïdjân,” in A Volume . . . to E. G. Browne, Cambridge, 1922, pp. 228-56.

“Les Ziyârides,” Mémoires de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres XLII, 1922.

La Perse antique et lacivilisation iranienne, Paris, 1925; tr. by M. R. Dobic, Ancient Persia and Iranian civilization, London, 1927; repr., London, 1996.

Le livre de Gerchâsp. Poème persan d’Asadî junior de Toûs I, Clément Huart, ed. and tr., Tome premier, Paris, 1926.

(The remainder of the text was translated by Henri Massé, on the basis of Ḥabib Yaḡmāʾi’s edition, Tehran, 1317/1938, as Le livre de Gerchâsp . . . , Paris, 1951; see GARŠĀP-NĀMA).

Clément Huart and Louis Delaporte, L’Iran antique. Elam et Perse, et lacivilisation iranienne, new ed. La Perse antique, Paris, 1943, 1952.

“The Mythology of Persia,” in J. Hackin et al., eds., Asiatic Mythology. A Detailed Description and Explanation of the Mythologies of all the Great Nationsof Asia, London, Bombay, Sydney, 1932, pp. 35-56.

Turkish studies. “Bibliographie ottomane,” in JA, 7e-8e sér, 1880-90.

Konia, la ville des derviches tourneurs. Souvenir d’un voyage en Asie mineure, Paris, 1897.

Grammaire élémentaire de la langue turque . . . par N. Mallouf (Nasif Ma’luf), 2nd ed., Paris, 1899.

“Documents sur l’Asie centrale (Mission Pelliot). Le conte bouddhique des deux frères en langue et en caractères ouïgours,” JA, 11e sér., 4, 1914, pp. 5-57.

“Les derviches d’Asie mineure,” CRAIBL, 1918, pp. 177-183.

“De la valeur historique des mémoires des derviches tourneurs,” JA, sér. 11, 19, 1922, pp. 308-17.

Arabic and Islamic studies. Le livre de la création et de l’histoire (ed. and tr. of Ketāb al-badʾ wa’l-taʾriḵ of Moṭahhar b. Ṭāher Maqdesi [Moqaddasi], 6 vols., Paris, 1899-1919.

Histoire de Bagdad dans les temps modernes, Paris, 1901.

Littérature arabe, Paris, 1902, 4th ed., Paris, 1923.

Les calligraphes et les miniaturistes de l’Orient musulman, Paris, 1908.

Histoire des Arabes, 2 vols., Paris , 1912-13.

“L’islamisme” [Islamic studies in France, 1822-1922]” in Société asiatique, Le Livre du Centenaire, Paris, 1922, chap. VI, pp. 141-206.

(Jean Calmard)

Originally Published: December 15, 2004

Last Updated: March 23, 2012

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