BURNOUF, Eugene, French Orientalist : b. Paris, 12 Aug. 1801; d. there, 28 May 1852. He commenced his studies at the College of Louis-le-Grand, became a pupil in the &Wt.
des Chartes in 1822, passed as a lawyer in 1824 and soon after devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages. In 1826 he attracted the attention of men of learning throughout Europe by publishing, in conjunction with his friend, Lassen, an (F.ssay on the Pali,' or the sacred language of the Buddhists in Ceylon and the Eastern Peninsula, and in 1827 by furnish ing an explanatory text to the series of litho graphic platei prepared by Geringer and Cha brelle to illustrate the religion, manners, cus toms, etc., of the Hindu nations inhabiting the French possessions in India. This work was not completed till 1835. In 1832 he was ad mitted into the Academy of Inscriptions, and in the same year was appointed to the professor ship of. Sanskrit in the College de France, an office which he held till his death. His fame is chiefly due to his having, so to speak, restored to life an entire language, the Zend or old Persian language in which the Zoroastrian writings were composed. Anquetil-Duperron had ob
tained the text of the extant works of this sacred language of the Persians. It is the glory of Burnout to have interpreted those works with the aid of the Sanskrit. To this part of his labors belongs his (Extrait d'un commentaire et d'une traduction nouvelle du Vendidad Sada' (1830); (Observations sur la grammaire de M. Bopp'(1833) ; (Commentaire sur le Yagna) (1833-35). Burnout also distinguished himself by his labors on Buddhism. On this subject he published the text accompanied by a translation of the (Bhigavata Purina) (1840 47) ; (Introduction a l'histoire du Bouddhisme Indien) (1st vol., 1844), etc. A fortnight be fore his death the Academy of Inscriptions elected him secretary for life. Consult Lenor mant, (Eugene Burnout' (Paris 1852); Bar thelemy-St.-Hilaire, sur les travaux de M. E. B.' (in the 2d ed. of the (Introduc tion a l'histoire du Bouddhisme' (1876) ; de Lettres d'Eugene Burnout) (1891).