Séraphin Couvreur

Séraphin Couvreur (* January 14, 1835, † November 19, 1919 ) was a French sinologist and missionary. He belonged to the Society of Jesus, evangelizing since 1870 in Ho Kien Fou ( Hejian Fu Chinese河 间 府/河 间 府) in the Chinese province of Zhili ( Hebei ).

Being in several editions published Dictionnaire classique de la langue chinoise was in the West for a long time the standard work for a better understanding of ancient Chinese texts. He used a private French transcription system, called Couvreur system in this work.

He translated many classic Chinese texts, including the works of Shi Jing and Shujing, the Sishu ( Four Books ), to which the texts Lun Yu, Mengzi, Daxue and Zhongyong belong, and works to the Chinese ritual and Zeremonialwesen ( Liji and Yili ). User Friendly his works are the fact that they were partially translated both into French and Latin, but especially the fact that they have the Chinese original text in parallel issues with mapped, including the French transcription.

His online today -reach translations are therefore still of value because they - unlike James Legge - do not confuse the findings of recent text-critical research since the Qing period on ancient Chinese texts with the interpretation of Zhu Xi, but the song temporal philosophers strictly follow. This quality have for the most part the translation of Richard Wilhelm.

The influence of his translations can only be compared with those of Richard Wilhelm, who has used it for his own translations in German-speaking countries.

Works

  • Les Quatre Livres - avec un commentaire Abrege en Chinois une traduction en Francais et en double Latin et un des lettres et des noms vocabulaire propres. Sien Hsien, Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique, 1930 troisieme edition Les quatre livres. I: La Grande Etude. II: L' invariable environment. ( = Les Humanites d' Extreme -Orient. Text de la Chine ) Cathasia Paris 1895
  • Confucius: Confucius Entretiens de et de ses disciples. Les Quatre Livres band 3 from the Chinese translated into French and Latin by Seraphin Couvreur. Paris / Leiden, Cathasia / Brill, ca 1951 ( Les Humanites d' Extreme -Orient. )
  • Meng Tzeu: Oeuvres de Meng Tzeu. Les Quatre Livres Volume 4 Translated from the Chinese translated into French and Latin by Seraphin Couvreur. Paris / Leiden, Cathasia / Brill, ca 1951
France Zhili Province Classic of Poetry Etiquette and Ceremonial Richard Wilhelm (sinologist) Integrated Authority File
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