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HENRI ESTIENNE (1531–1598)

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 800 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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HENRI

HENRI See also:
ESTIENNE (or ETIENNE; the French form of the name; anglicized to Stephens, and latinized to Stephanus)
ESTIENNE (1531–1598) , sometimes called Henri II., was the eldest son of See also:

Robert. In the See also:

PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to his edition of Aulus See also:

GELLIUS, AULUS (c. A.D. 13o-I8o)

Gellius (1585), addressed to his son See also:

Paul, he gives an interesting See also:

account of his See also:

FATHER

father's See also:

HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

household, in which, owing to the various nationalities of those who were employed on the See also:

PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press, Latin was used as a See also:

COMMON

common See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language. Henri thus picked up Latin as a See also:

child, but by his own See also:

REQUEST, LETTERS OF

request he was allowed to learn See also:

Greek as a serious study before Latin. At the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of fifteen he become a See also:

PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil of See also:

PIERRE

Pierre Danes, at that See also:

time the first Greek See also:

SCHOLAR, SCHOLARSHIP

scholar in See also:

France. Two years later he began to attend the lectures of Jacques Toussain, one of the royal professors of Greek, and in the same See also:

YEAR

year (1545) was employed by his father to collate a MS. of See also:

Dionysius of See also:

HALICARNASSUS (mod. Budrum)

Halicarnassus. In 1547 he went to See also:

Italy, where he spent three years in See also:

HUNTING (the verbal substantive from " hunt "; O. Eng. huntian, hunta; apparently connected with O. Eng. hentan, Gothic hinpan, to capture, O.H.G. hunda,booty)

hunting for and collating See also:

MSS. and in intercourse with learned men. In 1550 he visited See also:

England, where he was favourably received by See also:

EDWARD

Edward VI., and then See also:

FLANDERS (Flem. Vlaanderen)

Flanders, where he learnt See also:

SPANISH

Spanish. In 1551 he joined his father at See also:

Geneva, which henceforth became his See also:

home. In 1554 he gave to the See also:

WORLD

world, as the firstfruits of his researches, two first See also:

EDITIONS

editions, viz. a See also:

TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

tract of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the so-called " See also:

ANACREON

Anacreon." In 1556 he discovered at See also:

Rome ten new books (xi.-xx.) of Diodorus Siculus. In 1557 he issued from the press which in the previous year he had set up at Geneva three first editions, viz. See also:

ATHENAGORAS

Athenagoras, See also:

Maximus Tyrius, and some fragments of Greek historians, including See also:

APPIAN (Gr. 'Aairtavbs)

Appian's 'Avv1(3a?ucii, and 'I(3ripucii and an edition of See also:

AESCHYLUS (525–456 B.c.)

Aeschylus, in which for the first time the See also:

AGAMEMNON

Agamemnon was printed in entirety and as a See also:

SEPARATE

separate See also:

PLAY

play. In 1559 he printed a Latin See also:

TRANSLATION

translation from his own See also:

PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

pen of Sextus Empiricus, and an edition of Diodorus Siculus with the new books.

His father dying in the same year, he became under his will owner of his press, subject, however, to the See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of keeping it at Geneva. In 1566 he published his best-known See also:

French See also:

WORK

work, the Apologie pour Herodote, or, as he himself called it, L'Introduction au traite de la conformite See also:

des merveilles anciennes avec See also:

les modernes ou Traite preparatif a l'Apologie pour Herodote. Some passages being considered objectionable by the Geneva See also:

CONSISTORY (Lat. consistorium, literally, a standing place, hence meeting place, waiting or audience chamber)

consistory, he was compelled to See also:

CANCEL (from the Lat. cancelli, a plural diminutive of cancer, a grating or lattice, from which are also derived " chancel " and " chancellor ")

cancel the pages containing them. The See also:

BOOK

book became highly popular, and within sixteen years twelve editions were printed. In 1572 he published the See also:

GREAT

great work upon which he had been labouring for many years, the See also:

THESAURUS (Gr. B17o-avp6s)

Thesaurus Graecae linguae, in 5 vols. fol. The publication in 1578 of his Deux Dialogues du nouveau frangois italianize brought him into a fresh dispute with the consistory. To avoid their censure he went to See also:

Paris, and resided at the French See also:

court for a year. On his return to Geneva he was summoned before the consistory, and, proving contumacious, was imprisoned for a See also:

WEEK (from A.S. wicu, Germanic *wikon, probably=change, turn)

week. From this time his See also:

LIFE

life became more and more of a See also:

NOMAD (Gr. voµas, voµabes, wandering)

nomad one. He is to be found at See also:

Basel, See also:

HEIDELBERG

Heidelberg, See also:

Vienna, Pest, everywhere but at Geneva, these journeys being undertaken partly in the See also:

hope of procuring patrons and purchasers, for the large sums which he had spent on such publications as the Thesaurus and the See also:

PLATO

Plato of 1578 had almost ruined him. His press stood nearly at a standstill. A few editions of classical authors were brought out, but each successive one showed a falling off.

Such value as the later ones had was chiefly due to the notes furnished by See also:

Casaubon, who in 1586 had married his daughter See also:

Florence. His last years were marked by ever-increasing infirmity of mind and See also:

TEMPER (from Lat. temperare, to mingle or compound in due proportion, to qualify, rule, regulate, to be moderate, formed from tempos, time, fit or due season)

temper. In 1J97 he See also:

LEFT

left Geneva for the last time. After visiting See also:

MONTPELLIER

Montpellier, where Casaubon was now See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

professor, he started for Paris, but was seized with sudden illness at See also:

Lyons, and died there at the end of See also:

JANUARY

January 1598• Few men have ever served the cause of learning more devotedly. For over See also:

THIRTY

thirty years the amount which he produced, whether as printer, editor or See also:

ORIGINAL

original writer, was enormous. The productions of his press, though printed with the same beautiful type as his father's books, are, owing to the poorness of the See also:

paper and See also:

INK (from Late Lat. encaustum, Gr. gysavorov, the purple ink used by Greek and Roman emperors, from iyKaiew, to burn in)

ink, inferior to them in See also:

general beauty. The best, perhaps, from a typographical point of view, are the Poetae Greeci principes (See also:

FOLIO (properly the ablative case of the Lat. folium, leaf, but also frequently an adaptation of the Ital. foglio)

folio, 1566), the See also:

Plutarch (13 vols. 8vo, 1572), and the Plato (3 vols. folio, 1578). It was rather his scholarship which gave value to his editions. He was not only his own press-corrector but his own editor. Though by the latter See also:

HALF

half of the 16th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century nearly all the important Greek and Latin authors that we now possess had been published, his untiring activity still found some gleanings. Eighteen first editions of Greek authors and one of a Latin author are due to his press.

The most important have been already mentioned. Henri's reputation as a scholar and editor has increased of See also:

LATE

late years. His familiarity with the Greek language has always been admitted to have been quite exceptional; but he has been accused of want of See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste and See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment, of carelessness and rashness. See also:

SPECIAL

Special censure has been passed on his Plutarch, in which he is said to have introduced conjectures of his own into the See also:

TEXT (Lat. textum, woven fabric, from texere, to weave)

text, while pretending to have derived them from MS. authority. But a late editor, Sintenis, has shown that, though like all the other editors of his See also:

day he did not give references to his authorities, every one of his supposed conjectures can be traced to some MS. Whatever [may be said as to his taste or his judgment, it seems that he was both careful and scrupulous, and that he only resorted to conjecture when authority failed him. And, whatever the merit of his conjectures, he was at any See also:

RATE

rate the first to show what conjecture could do towards restoring a hopelessly corrupt passage. The work, however, on which his fame as a scholar is most surely based is the Thesaurus Graecae linguae. After making due See also:

ALLOWANCE (from "allow,' derived through 0. Fr. alouer from the two Lat. origins adlaudare, to praise, and allocare, to assign a place; so that the English word combined the general idea of "assigning with approval")

allowance for the fact that considerable materials for the work had been already collected by his father, and that he received considerable assistance from the See also:

German scholar See also:

SYLBURG, FRIEDRICH (1536-1596)

Sylburg, he is still entitled to the very highest praise as the producer of a work which was of the greatest service to scholarship and which in those See also:

early days of Greek learning could have been produced by no one but a See also:

GIANT (O.E. geant, through Fr. giant, O.Fr. gaiant, jaiant, jeant, med. pop. Lat. gagante—cf. Ital. gigante—by assimilation from gigantem, ace. of Lat. gigas, Gr. yiyas)

giant. Two editions of the Thesaurus were published in the 19th century—at See also:

LONDON

London by See also:

VALPY, RICHARD (1754-1836)

Valpy (1815–1825) and at Paris by See also:

DIDOT

Didot (1831–1863). It was one of Henri Estienne's great merits that, unlike nearly all the French scholars who preceded him, he did not neglect his own language. In the Trajte de la conformite du langage See also:

FRANCOIS (1558-1614)

francois avec le Grec (published in 1565, but without date; ed.

L. Feugere, 1850), French is asserted to have, among See also:

MODERN

modern See also:

LANGUAGES

languages, the most See also:

affinity with Greek, the first of all languages. Deux Dialogues du nouveau francois italianize (Geneva, 1578; ed. P. Ristelhuber, 2 vols., 1885) was directed against the See also:

FASHION (adapted from Fr. facon, agon, Lat. factio, making, facere, to do or make)

fashion prevailing in the court of See also:

Catherine de' See also:

Medici of using See also:

ITALIAN

Italian words and forms. The Project du livre intitule de la See also:

PRECEDENCE (from Lat. praecedere, to go before, precede)

Precedence du langage francois (Paris, 1579; ed. E. Huguet, 1896) treats of the superiority of French to Italian. An interesting feature of the Precedence is the account of French See also:

PROVERBS, BOOK OF (Heb. Mishle Slzelomoh, " Proverbs of Solomon," abridged by the later Jews to Mishle; Septuagint, irapotpiai or II. EaX.; Lat. Vulg. Parabolae sal. and Liber proverbiorum)

proverbs, and, See also:

Henry III. having expressed some doubts as to the genuineness of some of them, Henri Estienne published, in 1594, Les Premices ou le I. livre des Proverbes epigrammatizez (never reprinted and very rare). Finally, there remains the A pologie pour Herodote, his most famous work. The ostensible See also:

OBJECT

object of the book is to show that the See also:

STRANGE, SIR ROBERT (1721-1792)

strange stories in See also:

HERODOTUS (c. 484-425 B.C.)

Herodotus may be paralleled by equally strange ones of modern times. Virtually it is a See also:

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter See also:

SATIRE (Lat. satira, satura; see below)

satire on the writer's age, especially on the See also:

ROMAN

Roman See also:

Church.

Put together without any method, its extreme desultoriness makes it difficult to read continuously, but the numerous stories, collected partly from various See also:

LITERARY

literary See also:

SOURCES

sources, notably from the preachers Menot and Maillard, partly from the writer's own multifarious experience, with which it is packed, make it an interesting commentary on the See also:

MANNERS, CHARLES (1857– )

manners and fashions of the time. But satire, to be effective, should be either humorous or righteously indignant, and, while such See also:

HUMOUR (Latin humor)

humour as there is in the Apologie is decidedly heavy, the writer's indignation is generally forgotten in his evident relish for See also:

SCANDAL

scandal. The See also:

style is, after all, its See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief merit. Though it bears evident traces of See also:

HURRY (or URRV), SIR JOHN (d. 165o)

hurry, it is, like that of all Henri Estienne's French writings, clear, easy and vigorous,uniting the directness and sensuousness of the older writers with a suppleness and logical precision which at this time were almost new elements in French See also:

PROSE

prose. An edition of the Apologie has recently been published by Liseux (ed. Ristelhuber, 2 vols., 1879), after one of the only two copies of the original uncancelled edition that are known to exist. The very remarkable See also:

POLITICAL

political pamphlet entitled Discours merveilleux de la See also:

vie et actions et deportemens de Catherine de Medicis, which appeared in 1574, has been ascribed to Henri Estienne, but the See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence both See also:

INTERNAL

internal and See also:

EXTERNAL

external is conclusive against his being the author of it. Of his Latin writings the most worthy of See also:

NOTICE

notice are the_De Latinitate falso suspecta (1576), the Pseudo-See also:

CICERO

Cicero (1577) and the Nizoliodidascalus (1578), all three written against the Ciceronians, and the Francofordiense See also:

EMPORIUM (a Latin adaptation of the Gr. Eµabpuov, from f)

Emporium (1574), a See also:

PANEGYRIC

panegyric on the See also:

FRANKFORT

Frankfort See also:

FAIR

fair (reprinted with a French translation by Liseux, 1875). He also wrote a large quantity of indifferent Latin verses, including a See also:

long poem entitled Musa monitrix Principum (Basel, 1590). The See also:

PRIMARY

primary authorities for an account of the Estiennes are their own See also:

WORKS

works. In the garrulous and egotistical prefaces which Henri was in the See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of prefixing to his editions will be found many scattered See also:

BIOGRAPHICAL

biographical details. Twenty-seven letters from Henri to See also:

John Crato of Crafftheim (ed.

F. See also:

PASSOW, FRANZ LUDWIG CARL FRIEDRICH (1786-1833)

Passow, 183o) have been printed, and there is one of Robert's in Herminjard's See also:

Correspondence des Reformateurs dans de pays de langue fran§aise (9 vols, published 1866–1897), while a few other contemporary references to him will be found in the same work. The secondary authorities are See also:

Janssen See also:

van Almeloveen, De vitis Stephanorum (See also:

Amsterdam, 1683) ; MVIaittaire, Stephanorum historia (London, 1709) ; A. A. Renouard, Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne (2nd ed., Paris, 1843); the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article on Estienne by A. F. Didot in the Nouv. Biog. gen. ; See also:

Mark See also:

PATTISON, MARK (1813-1884)

Pattison, Essays, i. 67 if. (1889); L. See also:

Clement, Henri Estienne et son oeuvre francaise (Paris, 1899).

There is a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good account of Henri's Thesaurus in the Quart. Rev.'for January 182o, written by See also:

Bishop See also:

Blomfield. (A. A.

End of Article: HENRI ESTIENNE (1531–1598)

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