Albert Étienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie

Albert Étienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie (23 November 1844, Ingouville, Le Havre-11 October 1894, London) was a French orientalist, specialising in comparative philology. He published a number of books on early Asian and Middle-Eastern languages, initially in French and then in English.

Terrien died in London at his residence, 136 Bishop's Road, Fulham, leaving a widow.

Early life and education

Biographical detail on Terrien is scant, some notices drawing on Royal Asiatic Society records and prefaces. He is sometimes noted as born in 1845, although his date of death is firmly established.

He was born in Normandy, a descendant of the Cornish family of Terrien, which emigrated to France in the 17th century during the civil war, and acquired the property of La Couperie in Normandy. Some bibliographies append "Baron" to his name. His father was a merchant, and he received a business education.

Career

In early life he settled at Hong Kong, where he soon turned his attention from commerce to the study of oriental languages, and he acquired an especially intimate knowledge of the Chinese language. In 1867, he published a philological work, Du Langage, Essai sur la Nature et l'Étude des Mots et des Langues (Paris, 8 volumes), which attracted considerable attention. Soon after, his attention was attracted by the progress made in deciphering Babylonian inscriptions, and by the resemblance between the Chinese characters and the early Akkadian hieroglyphics.