Essai sur les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens explained

Essai sur les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens was a significant 1744 French translation of an English work on the history of writing.

Content

The Essai translated a section (book IV of volume 2) of The Divine Legation of Moses (from 1737) by William Warburton, thought by the original author to have value independent of his main religious thesis.^{[1] [2]} The work of de Malpeines, the translator, appeared under the longer title Essai sur Les hiéroglyphes des Égyptiens, où l'on voit l'origine et le progrès du langage et de l'écriture, l'antiquité des sciences en Égypte, et l'origine du culte des animaux.^[3] It was based on 140 pages of the original work of Warburton, which in all ran to over 1000 pages. Those pages are the part of the work that is now most remembered.^[4]

The book as published also contained a work of Nicolas Fréret, "Remarques sur la chronologie et sur la première écriture des Chinois".^[5] The notes to Essai itself discussed the views of Warburton and Samuel Shuckford on Chinese characters.^[6]

Translator

Marc-Antoine Léonard de Malpeines (or des Malpeines) (1700–1768) was a French lawyer. He is known mainly for his 1744 translation and adaptation, the Essai.

Influence

Condillac's Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines (1746) was influenced by the Essai.^[7] The major influences in his Traité des systèmes were the Essai, and the Histoire des oracles of Fontenelle.^[8] He carried over verbatim the Essai's explanation of the transition from painting to hieroglyphic writing.^[9] Diderot's Lettre sur les sourds-et- muets (1751) was also influenced by the Essai.^[7] Warburton's theory on the origin of language in metaphor was taken up by the Encyclopédie group, and Rousseau.^[10] Rousseau mentions Warburton in The Social Contract.^[11]

Modern edition

In 1978 an edition of the Essai by Patrick Tort was published, in a volume including an introduction by Jacques Derrida.^[12] Derrida's contribution, Scribble, was then separately translated into English, in 1979.^[13]

Notes and References

1. Book: Winfried Busse. Jürgen Trabant. Les Ideologues: Semiotique, Philosophie Du Langage Et Linguistique Pendant La Revolution Francaise / Proceedings of the Conference, Held at Berlin, October 1983. 1 January 1986. John Benjamins Publishing. 90-272-3282-2. 206.
2. Book: Nicholas Hudson. Writing and European Thought 1600-1830. registration. 8 December 1994. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-45540-4. 60.
3. Book: Antoine Alexandre Barbier. Imprimerie bibliographique (Paris). Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes, composés, traduits ou publiés en français: avec les noms des auteurs, traducteurs et éditeurs, accompagné de notes historiques et critiques. 1806. Imprimerie Bibliographique. 245.
4. Book: Chantal Grell. L'Egypte imaginaire de la Renaissance à Champollion: colloque en Sorbonne. 2001. Presses Paris Sorbonne. 978-2-84050-150-3. 49. fr.
5. Book: Cécile Leung. Etienne Fourmont (1683-1745). 1 January 2002. Leuven University Press. 978-90-5867-248-3. 296.
6. Book: William Warburton. Essai sur les hieroglyphes des Egyptiens, où l'on voit l'origine et le progrès du langage et de l'ecriture, l'antiquité des sciences en Egypte, et l'origine du culte des animaux. Traduit de l'anglois de M. Warburthon. Avec des observations sur l'antiquité des hiéroglyphes scientifiques, & des remarques sur la chronologie & sur la premiére ecriture des chinois. 1. 1744. 109 note.
7. Book: Kevin Barry. Language, Music, and the Sign: A Study in Aesthetics, Poetics and Poetic Practice from Collins to Coleridge. 19 November 1987. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-34175-2. 8.
8. Book: Ellen McNiven Hine. A Critical Study of Condillac's Traité des Systèmes. 6 December 2012. Springer Science & Business Media. 978-94-009-9291-7. 34.
9. Book: André Charrak. Empirisme et métaphysique: l'Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines de Condillac. 1 January 2003. Vrin. 978-2-7116-1604-6. 137.
10. Book: Victor E. Taylor. Charles E. Winquist. Postmodernism: Foundational essays. 1998. Taylor & Francis. 978-0-415-18567-7. 559 note 9.
11. Book: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Essay on the Origin of Languages and Writings Related to Music. 1 July 2009. UPNE. 978-1-61168-127-7. 567.
12. Book: Jan Assmann. Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. 30 June 2009. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-02030-6. 242 note 45.
13. Book: Jonathan D. Culler. On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism After Structuralism. 1982. Cornell University Press. 0-8014-9201-7. 288–.