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François-Alphonse Belin

فرانسوا ألفونس بلان

Notable figure 1817–1877 · Source: Najib al-Aqiqi, al-Mustashriqun, 3rd ed. (Cairo: Dar al-Maʿarif, 1964), vol. 1, p. 195; Yahya Murad, Muʿjam asmaʾ al-mustashriqin, p. 340 · Second source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, authority record: Belin, François-Alphonse (1817-1877)

From France; worked in Türkiye, Egypt and Greece

Field: Lexicography

Affiliation

Notes on Marcel's dictionary; colloquial Arabic texts

Biography

He learned Arabic from Marcel and then at the Collège de France and the School of Oriental Languages under de Sacy, Reinaud, Quatremère and Jaubert. He entered the diplomatic service and served in Salonica, Cairo and Constantinople, rising to consul. He wrote notes on Marcel's Arabic–French dictionary (1839), compiled an anthology of colloquial Arabic texts including part of the Romance of ʿAntar, and translated into French a treatise on the ijaza and the conduct of teaching (Paris, 1855).