Antoine-Léonard de Chézy (15 January 1773 – 31 August 1832) was a French orientalist

Oriental studies

Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...

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He was born at Neuilly

Neuilly-sur-Seine

Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...

. His father, Antoine de Chézy

Antoine de Chézy

Antoine de Chézy was a French hydraulics engineer. He is known for the Chézy formula, which concerned the velocity of pipe flow. He died in 1798 after being director of the École nationale des ponts et chaussées for less than a year. His son was the orientalist Antoine-Léonard de Chézy.-References:...

 (1718–1798), was an engineer who finally became director of the École des Ponts et Chaussées

École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Founded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées , often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school...

. The son was intended for his father's profession; but in 1799 he obtained a post in the oriental department of the national library

Bibliothèque nationale de France

The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...

. In about 1803, he began studying Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, though he possessed no grammar or dictionary, and succeeded in obtaining sufficient knowledge of the language to be able to compose poetry in it. He was the first professor of Sanskrit appointed in the Collège de France

Collège de France

The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...

 (1815), a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

, and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions. Among his works were:

• Medjouin et Leila (1807), from the Persian
  Persian language
  Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
  
  
• Yadjanadatta Badha (1814)
• La Reconnaissance de Sacountala (1830), from the Sanskrit
• L'Anthologie érotique d'Amrou (1831), published under the pseudonym d'Apudy.

See the Mémoires of the Académie des Inscriptions (new series, vol. xii.), where there is a notice of Chézy by Silvestre de Sacy

Silvestre de Sacy

Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy , was a French linguist and orientalist. His son, Ustazade Silvestre de Sacy, became a journalist.-Early life:...

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