BOCHART

bochart, samuel (1599-1667), french scholar, was born at rouen on the 30th of may 1599. he was for many years a pastor of a protestant church at caen, and became tutor to wentworth dillon, earl of roscommon. in 1646 he published his _phaleg_ and _chanaan_ (caen, 1646 and 1651), the two parts of his _geographia sacra_. his _hierozoicon_, which treats of the animals of scripture, was printed in london (2 vols., 1663). in 1652 christina of sweden invited him to stockholm, where he studied the arabian manuscripts in the queen's possession. he was accompanied by pierre daniel huet, afterwards bishop of avranches. on his return to caen he was received into the academy of that city. bochart was a man of profound erudition; he possessed a thorough knowledge of the principal oriental languages, including hebrew, syriac, chaldaic and arabic; and at an advanced age he wished to learn ethiopic. he was so absorbed in his favourite study, that he saw phoenician and nothing but phoenician in everything, even in celtic words, and hence the number of chimerical etymologies which swarm in his works. he died at caen on the 16th of may 1667. a complete edition of his works was published at leiden, under the title of _sam. bochart opera omnia_ (1675, 2 vols. folio; 4th ed., 3 vols., 1712). an _essay on the life and writings of samuel bochart_, by w.r. whittingham, appeared in 1829.