DERENBOURG

derenbourg, joseph (1811-1895), franco-german orientalist. he was a considerable force in the educational revival of jewish education in france. he made great contributions to the knowledge of saadia, and planned a complete edition of saadia's works in arabic and french. a large part of this work appeared during his lifetime. he also wrote an _essai sur l'histoire et la geographie de la palestine_ (paris, 1867). this was an original contribution to the history of the jews and judaism in the time of christ, and has been much used by later writers on the subject (e.g. by schurer). he also published in collaboration with his son hartwig, _opuscules et traites d'abou-'l-walid_ (with translation, 1880); _deux versions hebraiques du livre de kalilah et dimnah_ (1881), and a latin translation of the same story under the title _joannis de capua directorium vitae humanae_ (1889); _commentaire de maimonide sur la mischnah seder tohorot_ (berlin, 1886-1891); and a second edition of s. de sacy's _seances de hariri_. he died on the 29th of july 1895, at ems. his son, hartwig derenbourg (1844-1908), was born in paris on the 17th of june 1844. he was educated at gottingen and leipzig. subsequently he studied arabic at the ecole des langues orientales. in 1879 he was appointed professor of arabic, and in 1886 professor of mahommedan religion, at the ecole des hautes etudes in paris. he collaborated with his father in the great edition of saadia and the edition of abu-'l-walid, and also produced a number of important editions of other arabic writers. among these are _le diwan de nabiqa dhoby[=a]n[=i]_; _le livre de sibawaihi_ (2 vols., paris, 1881-1889); _chrestomathie elementaire de l'arabe litteral_ (in collaboration with spiro, 1885; 2nd ed., 1892); _ousama ibn mounkidh, un emir syrien_ (1889); _ousama ibn mounkidh, preface du livre du baton_ (with trans., 1887); _al-fakhri_ (1895); _oumara du gemen_ (1897), a catalogue of arabic mss. in the escorial (vol. i., 1884).