Michelem Breal French linguist and philologist Date of Birth: 26.03.1832 Country: France

Biography of Michel Bréal

Michel Bréal was a French linguist and philologist who is known for his contributions to the field of semantics. He was born on March 26, 1832, in Landau, Bavaria. Bréal studied in France, initially in Paris and Strasbourg, and later in Berlin under the guidance of Franz Bopp.

Bréal began his career working at the National Library of Paris and eventually became a professor of comparative grammar at the Collège de France in 1866, a position he held until his retirement in 1905. In 1868, he became the secretary of the Linguistic Society of Paris. He also taught at the School of Advanced Studies from 1868 to 1882 and served as the general inspector of higher education institutions in France from 1879 to 1888.

Bréal made significant contributions to the field of Indo-European studies. He translated Franz Bopp's Comparative Grammar into French and wrote an introduction for it. He also authored books such as "Mélanges de mythologie et linguistique" (1877) and "Dictionnaire étymologique latin" (1902), among others. Bréal was involved in deciphering the syllabic script of Cyprus and the "Eugubian Tables" in the Umbrian language.

Bréal is recognized as one of the founders of the science of meaning, or semantics. He was the first to use the term itself and proposed an experimental historical (diachronic) analysis of meanings in his book "Essai de sémantique, science des significations" (1897). However, semantics later developed primarily as a synchronic science.

Michel Bréal passed away on November 25, 1915, in Paris. His work and contributions to the study of language and meaning continue to influence linguistic research to this day.