Charles de Brosses

Charles de Brosses (Dijon, 1709-1777) was one of the most worthy of note French writers of the XVIII century. He was the president of the parliament of Dijon (since 1741) and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris (since 1746), and of the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres of Dijon (since 1761). He was a very dear friend of Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788), the naturalist who wrote the Histoire naturelle, and a personal enemy of Voltaire (1694-1778), the famous philosopher, who barred his entry in the Académie française in 1770. Because he opposed the absolute power of the king, he was exiled twice, in 1744 and 1771. During his life, he wrote numerous academic papers on topics concerning ancient history, philology and linguistics, which were used by Diderot and D'Alembert in the Encyclopédie (1751-1765).

He published five books:

1) Lettres sur l'état actuel de la ville souterraine d'Herculée et sur les causes de son ensevelissement sous les ruines du Vésuve, Dijon, 1750.

This contains a list of archeological discoveries from the Herculanus excavation, including some ancient inscriptions in the Oscan language.

2) Histoire des navigations aux terres australes, contenant ce que l'on sait des moeurs et des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour, Paris, Durand, 1756; engl. trans. by J. Callender, Edinburgh, 1766-1768.; germ. trans. by J.C. Adelung, Halle, 1767.

This offers a long and detailed digest of travel reportage, which proved extremely useful to James Cook with respect to the discovery of Australia in 1770, and contains, to our knowledge, the first historical occurrence of the words "Polynésie" and "Australasie".

3) Du culte des dieux fétiches ou Parallèle de l'ancienne religion de l'Egypte avec la religion actuelle de Nigritie, [no pl.], [no ed.], 1760; germ. trans. by Pistorius, 1785.

This provides a materialistic theory of the origin of religion, and represents one of the first theoretical works in the discipline of ethno-anthropology. Notably it contains the first historical occurrence of the word "fétichisme", later borrowed by Karl Marx in 1842 and used in his Capital (1867).

4) Traité de la formation méchanique des langues et des principes physiques de l'étymologie, Paris, Saillant, 1765; 2nd ed.: Paris, Terrelongue, 1801; germ. trans.: Über Sprache und Schrift, by M. Hissmann, Leipzig, 1777; rus. trans.: Rassoujdenie o mekhanitcheskom sostave ïazykov i fizitcheskikh natchalakh etymologhii, by A. Nikolski, St. Petersburg, 1821-22.

This provides a materialistic theory of the origin and the evolution of language, where the meaning of words is considered as an image of the physiological articulation of sounds (see Sound Symbolism). It had an influence on Condillac's Grammaire (1775) and a very important role in the birth of a scientific conception of language.

5) Histoire de la République romaine, dans le cours du VIIe siècle, par Salluste, en partie traduite du latin sur l'original, en partie rétablie et composée sur les fragmens qui sont restés de ses livres perdus, Dijon, Frantin, 1777.

This is a French translation of Sallustius’ Historia, partially restored with the help of ancient fragments, and illustrated with topographical maps and archaeological founds.

De Brosses is most remembered among the French schools for his posthumously published book:

6) L'Italie il y a cent ans, ou Lettres écrites d'Italie à quelques amis en 1739 et 1740, ed. by M. R. Colomb, Paris, Levavasseur, 1836.

This book is a collection of cultured, witty, open-minded letters, sent by De Brosses to his friends in Dijon during his travel in Italy of 1739-1740. It was loved by Puskin and Stendhal.