France

Adrien Barthélemy Notable figure

1859–1949

Lexicography

Lexicographer; Arabic–French dictionary of Syrian dialects

Worked in Syria

Arthur Guy Notable figure

1874–1945

Text editing

Editor of Ibn Qutayba's Kitab al-Ashriba (1907)

Worked in Syria, Libya, Tanzania, Palestine, Türkiye and Egypt

Arsène Roux Notable figure

1893–1971

Teaching Arabic

Teacher of Arabic and Berber in Morocco; Banat Suʿad

Worked in Morocco

Albert Gateau Notable figure

1902–1949

Lexicon and terminology

Editor of Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam; Tunisian maritime vocabulary

Worked in Morocco

Alfred Durand Notable figure

1858–1928

Grammar and morphology

Grammarian; co-author of Cheikho's Latin Arabic grammar

Alphonse Rousseau Notable figure

1820–1870

Translation

Translated from Arabic al-Tijani's journey and Tunis texts

Alexandre Bellemare Notable figure

1818–1885

Phonetics and dialects

Author of Grammaire arabe (idiome d'Algérie) (1850)

Amélie-Marie Goichon Notable figure

1894–1977

Lexicography

Compiler of Avicenna's philosophical lexicon (1938)

André d'Alverny Notable figure

1907–1965

Teaching Arabic

Teacher of Arabic; Petite introduction au parler libanais

Worked in Lebanon

André du Ryer Notable figure

17th century

Qur'an translation

First complete French version of the Qur'an (1647)

Worked in Egypt

André Roman Notable figure

1928–2012

Grammar and morphology

Linguist; author of a phonology of Arabic koine (1983)

Worked in Lebanon

André Miquel Notable figure

1929–2022

Literature and poetry

Collège de France chair of Arabic; Kalila wa-Dimna

Antoine-Paulin Pihan Notable figure

1810–1879

Lexicography

Lexicographer; glossary of French words from Arabic (1847)

Antoine Galland Notable figure

1646–1715

Literature and poetry

First European translator of the Thousand and One Nights

Worked in Türkiye

Antonin Goguyer Notable figure

1846–1909

Grammar and morphology

French translator of Qatr al-nada and Ibn Malik's Alfiyya

Auguste Cherbonneau Notable figure

1813–1882

Teaching Arabic

Arabic teacher in Constantine; French–Arabic dictionary

Worked in Algeria

Auguste-François-Julien Herbin Notable figure

1783–1806

Lexicography

Arabic–French and French–Arabic dictionary in two parts

Auguste Cour Notable figure

1866–1945

Literature and poetry

Professor of Arabic, Constantine; on Ibn Zaydun (1920)

Worked in Algeria

Auguste Martin Notable figure

1817–1893

Teaching Arabic

Held the Arabic chair at Constantine; Dialogues (1847)

Worked in Algeria

Augustin Rodet Notable figure

1828–1906

Teaching Arabic

With Belot, the anthology Nukhab al-mulah (Beirut 1870–1874)

Worked in Lebanon

Octave Houdas Notable figure

1840–1916

Teaching Arabic

Arabic professor; editor of Nuzhat al-hadi, Tarikh al-Sudan

Étienne Hubert Notable figure

17th century

Teaching Arabic

Henri IV's physician; taught Arabic in Paris, to Erpenius

Étienne Marc Quatremère Notable figure

1782–1857

Text editing

Editor of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima and al-Maydani's proverbs

Edmond Saussey Notable figure

1899–1937

Phonetics and dialects

Author of Turkish words in Damascene Arabic (1929)

Worked in Syria

Ernest Renan Notable figure

1823–1892

Philology and Semitics

Author of a general history of the Semitic languages (1855)

Émile Galtier Notable figure

1864–1908

Text editing

Translator of Futuh al-Bahnasa; Egyptian dialect tales

Worked in Algeria and Egypt

Évariste Lévi-Provençal Notable figure

1894–1956

Text editing

Editor of al-Bayan al-mughrib and Aʿmal al-aʿlam

Worked in Morocco and Algeria

Henri-Paul-Joseph Renaud Notable figure

1881–1945

Text editing

Editor of Ibn al-Banna's treatise on the anwaʾ

Worked in Morocco

Barthélemy d'Herbelot Notable figure

1625–1695

Reference works

Author of the Bibliothèque orientale (1697)

Bernard Roy Notable figure

1845–1919

Manuscript cataloguing

Catalogued the Zaytuna Mosque's manuscripts and books (1900)

Worked in Tunisia

Bernard Carra de Vaux Notable figure

1867–1953

Literary translation

Translated Avicenna's ʿAyniyya and Ibn al-Farid's Taʾiyya

Paul Joüon Notable figure

1871–1940

Semitic philology

Semitist; studies of Arabic word meaning and verb forms

Worked in Lebanon and Italy

Pierre Paul Émile Guigues Notable figure

1868–1930

Lexicography

Pharmacist; Arabic–French drug-name glossaries (1903)

Worked in Lebanon

Pierre Vattier Notable figure

1623–1667

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Tughraʾi's Lamiyyat al-ʿAjam (1660)

Pierre Larcher Notable figure

b. 1948

Grammar and linguistics

Linguist; Le système verbal de l'arabe classique (2003)

Jacques Berque Notable figure

1910–1995

Translation

Translator; the ten Muʿallaqat into French (1979)

Jacques Jomier Notable figure

1914–2008

Phonetics and dialects

Manual of Egyptian Arabic (1964); a Cairo-dialect lexicon

Worked in Egypt

Jean-Baptiste Belot Notable figure

1822–1904

Lexicography

Lexicographer; author of an Arabic-French vocabulary (1883)

Jean-Baptiste Du Val Notable figure

c. 1570–1632

Lexicography

Latin–Arabic dictionary of the Psalter's words (1632)

Jean-Baptiste-André Grangeret de Lagrange Notable figure

1790–1859

Arabic literature and poetry

Translator of Arabic poetry; Anthologie arabe (1828)

Jean-Baptiste Glaire Notable figure

1798–1879

Grammar

Author of Principes de grammaire arabe (1861)

Jean-Jacques-Antoine Caussin de Perceval Notable figure

1759–1835

Literature

Arabic professor, Collège de France; continued the Nights

Jeanne Jouin Notable figure

1894–1986

Folk literature and dialects

Collector of women's songs of Rabat and Fez

Worked in Morocco

Jean-Joseph-Léandre Bargès Notable figure

1810–1896

Text editing

Marseille professor of Arabic; Ibn al-Farid's Diwan (1855)

Jean-Joseph Marcel Notable figure

1776–1854

Lexicography

Lexicographer; French-Arabic vocabulary of dialects (1837)

Worked in Egypt

Jean Sauvaget Notable figure

1901–1950

Text editing

Co-author of rules for editing Arabic texts (1945)

Worked in Syria

Jean Gagnier Notable figure

c. 1670–1740

Text editing

Oxford Arabic professor; editor of Abu al-Fidaʾ's sira

Worked in the United Kingdom

Jean-François Demange Notable figure

19th century

Teaching Arabic

Professor of Arabic in St Petersburg from 1817

Worked in Russia

Jean-François Bled de Braine Notable figure

1801–1849

Teaching Arabic

Author of a course in the spoken Arabic of North Africa

Worked in Algeria

Jean Cantineau Notable figure

1899–1956

Phonetics and dialects

Dialectologist; author of Les parlers arabes du Ḥōrān (1946)

Worked in Syria and Algeria

Jean-Claude Vadet Notable figure

b. 1931

Literature and poetry

Author of L'esprit courtois en Orient (1968)

Worked in Egypt

Jean Lecerf Notable figure

1894–1980

Phonetics and dialects

Scholar of Baghdadi Arabic and modern Arabic literature

Worked in Syria

Jean-Honorat Delaporte Notable figure

1812–1871

Phonetics and dialects

Wrote the first attempt at a grammar of Algerian Arabic

Worked in Algeria

Georges Bohas Notable figure

b. 1946

Arabic linguistics

Linguist; Matrices, étymons, racines (1997)

Georges Salmon Notable figure

1876–1906

Text editing

Translated al-Maʿarri; edited al-Khatib on Baghdad

Worked in Egypt and Morocco

Georges Séraphin Colin Notable figure

1893–1977

Phonetics and dialects

Scholar and teacher of Moroccan and Andalusian Arabic

Worked in Morocco

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy Notable figure

1794–1878

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Maqdisi's Kashf al-asrar (1821)

Joseph Toussaint Reinaud Notable figure

1795–1867

Text editing

Paris professor of Arabic; co-editor of al-Hariri

Joseph Justus Scaliger Notable figure

1540–1609

Philology and Semitics

A founder of Arabic studies at Leiden

Worked in the Netherlands

Joseph Desparmet Notable figure

1863–1942

Folk literature and dialect

Scholar of Algerian popular poetry, song and dialect

Worked in Algeria

Joseph-Charles Mardrus Notable figure

1868–1949

Literature and poetry

Translator of the Thousand and One Nights into French

Joseph Halévy Notable figure

1827–1917

Semitic philology

Semitist; collector of the Sabaean inscriptions of Yemen

Joseph Heury Notable figure

1824–1897

Lexicography

Compiler of a French–Arabic vocabulary (Beirut, 1857)

Worked in Lebanon

Jules Blin Notable figure

1853–1891

Teaching Arabic

Author of Éléments de grammaire arabe (Beirut, 1886)

Worked in Lebanon and Egypt

Gérard Troupeau Notable figure

1927–2010

Grammar and lexicography

Philologist; author of an index to Sibawayh's Kitab (1976)

Gérard Lecomte Notable figure

1926–1997

Literature and lexicography

Author of a study of Ibn Qutayba (Damascus 1965)

Jérôme Lentin Notable figure

b. 1949

Dialectology

Dialectologist; Middle Arabic (2008, 2022)

David Cohen Notable figure

1922–2013

Philology and Semitics

Linguist; author of the Dictionnaire des racines sémitiques

Daniel Reig Notable figure

1929–2007

Lexicography

Lexicographer; As-Sabil Arabic-French dictionary (1983)

Dominique Sourdel Notable figure

1921–2014

Text editing

Editor of al-Baghdadi's Kitab al-kuttab (1952–54)

Dominique Caubet Notable figure

b. 1946

Dialectology

Dialectologist; L'arabe marocain (2 vols, 1993)

Donat Vernier Notable figure

1838–1917

Grammar and morphology

Author of Grammaire arabe (Beirut, 1891–1892)

Worked in Lebanon

Rubens Duval Notable figure

1839–1911

Lexicography

Editor of Bar Bahlul's Syriac–Arabic lexicon

Roland Meynet Notable figure

b. 1939

Arabic script

Author of L'écriture arabe en question (1971)

Worked in Lebanon and Italy

Théodore Roland de Bussy Notable figure

1810–1873

Dialects

L'Idiome d'Alger, French-Arabic dictionaries (1838)

Worked in Algeria

Régis Blachère Notable figure

1900–1973

Grammar, literature and lexicography

Grammarian; author of a classical Arabic grammar (1937)

Richard Boucher Notable figure

d. 1886

Text editing

Editor of the diwans of ʿUrwa ibn al-Ward and al-Farazdaq

René Basset Notable figure

1855–1924

Literature and poetry

Editor and translator of the Burda and Banat Suʿad

Worked in Algeria

Salomon Munk Notable figure

1803–1867

Text editing

Edited the Arabic text of the Guide with a French version

Stanislas Guyard Notable figure

1846–1884

Prosody and rhetoric

Author of a new theory of Arabic metre (1877)

Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy Notable figure

1758–1838

Grammar and teaching

Grammarian; author of the Grammaire arabe (Paris 1810)

Charles Barbier de Meynard Notable figure

1826–1908

Text editing

Editor of al-Masʿudi's Muruj and al-Zamakhshari's Atwaq

Charles Pellat Notable figure

1914–1992

Literature and text editing

Editor of al-Jahiz and historian of Arabic literature

Charles Defrémery Notable figure

1822–1883

Text editing

Co-editor and translator of Ibn Battuta's Rihla (1853–1858)

Charles Dumas Notable figure

1880–1965

Literature and poetry

Author of a study of Abu Zayd, hero of the Maqamat (1917)

Charles Vial Notable figure

b. 1928

Literature

Translator of al-Jahiz; glossary of written Egyptian

Worked in Egypt

Charles Kuentz Notable figure

1895–1978

Text editing

Began an edition of al-Shaybani's Kitab al-Jim

Worked in Egypt

Gabriel Ferrand Notable figure

1864–1935

Lexicography

Supplement to the Arabic lexicons; nautical texts

Gaston Wiet Notable figure

1887–1971

Literature and poetry

Taught Arabic literature in Cairo; translated modern writers

Worked in Egypt

Gaëtan Delphin Notable figure

1857–1919

Teaching Arabic

Teacher of Arabic in Algeria; Jamiʿ al-lataʾif (1891)

Worked in Algeria

Guillaume Postel Notable figure

1510–1581

Grammar

Grammarian; author of an early printed Arabic grammar

Gustave Dugat Notable figure

1824–1894

Text editing

Editor; co-edited al-Maqqari's Nafh al-tib (Leiden)

Worked in Algeria

François-Alphonse Belin Notable figure

1817–1877

Lexicography

Notes on Marcel's dictionary; colloquial Arabic texts

Worked in Türkiye, Egypt and Greece

Vincent-Mansour Monteil Notable figure

1913–2005

Modern Standard Arabic

Author of L'arabe moderne (1960) on modern Arabic

Fulgence Fresnel Notable figure

1795–1855

Literature and poetry

Translator of al-Shanfara's Lamiyya (1834)

Worked in Saudi Arabia and Iraq

Victor de Coppier Notable figure

1836–1904

Literature and poetry

Translator of the Diwan of al-Khansaʾ into French (1889)

Worked in Lebanon

Philippe Cuche Notable figure

1818–1895

Lexicography

Lexicographer; Arabic–French dictionary (Beirut, 1862)

Worked in Lebanon

Philippe Marçais Notable figure

1910–1984

Dialectology

Dialectologist; Esquisse grammaticale (1977)

Worked in Algeria and Belgium

Constantin Louis Sonneck Notable figure

1849–1904

Literature and poetry

Collector of Maghrebi poetry; Chants arabes du Maghreb

Worked in Algeria

Catherine Pennacchio Notable figure

Philology and Semitics

Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic loanwords in the Qur'an (2014)

Christiane Lamourette Notable figure

b. 1943

Literature and poetry

Literary scholar of Taha Husayn and Ibn Zaydun

Worked in Tunisia, Syria and Egypt

Claude-Étienne Savary Notable figure

1750–1788

Grammar

Grammar of literary and vulgar Arabic; French Qur'an (1783)

Claude Gilliot Notable figure

1940–2025

Philology and Semitics

Exégèse, langue et théologie en islam; Qur’anic language

Clément Huart Notable figure

1854–1926

Literature and poetry

Author of Littérature arabe (Paris, 1902)

Armand-Pierre Caussin de Perceval Notable figure

1795–1871

Grammar and lexicography

Grammarian; author of a grammar of colloquial Arabic (1824)

Louis-Mathieu Langlès Notable figure

1763–1824

Literature and poetry

Edited and translated the Voyages of Sindbad (1814)

Louis-Jacques Bresnier Notable figure

1814–1869

Teaching Arabic

Arabic teacher in Algiers; Ajurrumiyya translation (1846)

Worked in Algeria

Louis-Xavier Abougit Notable figure

1819–1895

Teaching Arabic

Arabic teacher in Lebanon; author of a grammar (1862)

Worked in Lebanon

Louis Massignon Notable figure

1883–1962

Terminology

Scholar of Arabic technical vocabulary; Essai (1922)

Worked in Egypt

Louis Machuel Notable figure

1848–1921

Teaching Arabic

Teacher of Arabic; author of an Arabic–French dictionary

Worked in Algeria and Tunisia

Louis Mercier Notable figure

1879–1945

Text editing

Editor of Ibn Hudhayl's Hilyat al-fursan (1922); dialects

Worked in Morocco

Léon Bercher Notable figure

1889–1955

Translation

Translator of Ibn Hazm's Tawq al-hamama into French (1949)

Worked in Tunisia

Léon and Henri Hélot Notable figure

19th century

Lexicography

Authors of a French–Arabic pocket dictionary (1847)

Marcelin Beaussier Notable figure

1821–1873

Lexicography

Lexicographer; author of an Arabic-French dictionary (1871)

L. Marcel Devic Notable figure

1832–1888

Lexicography

Lexicographer; French words of Oriental origin (1876)

Marcel Cohen Notable figure

1884–1974

Dialectology

Linguist; Le parler arabe des Juifs d'Alger (1912)

Marius Canard Notable figure

1888–1982

Text editing

Compiler of literary and historical texts on Sayf al-Dawla

Worked in Algeria

Maurice Bouyges Notable figure

1878–1951

Text editing

Editor of Kitab al-naʿam (1908) and the Tahafut (1927)

Worked in Lebanon

Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes Notable figure

1862–1957

Grammar

Paris Arabic professor; classical grammar with Blachère

Michel-Ange-André Le Roux Deshauterayes Notable figure

1724–1795

Teaching Arabic

Arabic chair at the Collège royal; drew Eastern scripts

Nicolas Perron Notable figure

1798–1876

Translation

Physician and translator; Femmes arabes (1858)

Worked in Egypt and Algeria

Hartwig Derenbourg Notable figure

1844–1908

Text editing and grammar

Editor of Sibawayh's al-Kitab (Paris 1881–1889)

Worked in Spain

Henri Pérès Notable figure

1890–1983

Literature and poetry

Editor of Kuthayyir's Diwan; La poésie andalouse (1937)

Worked in Algeria

Henri Fleisch Notable figure

1904–1985

Grammar and morphology

Grammarian; author of the Traité de philologie arabe

Worked in Lebanon

Hippolyte Dulac Notable figure

Phonetics and dialects

Scholar of Upper-Egyptian and Cairene Arabic

Worked in Egypt

William Marçais Notable figure

1872–1956

Phonetics and dialects

Dialectologist of Maghribi Arabic; Tlemcen dialect (1902)

Worked in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco