Louis Meigret, Humaniste Et Linguiste

Louis Meigret, un des grands linguistes du XVIe siècle, reste imparfaitement connu, surtout paree que la plupart de ses oeuvres sont écrites dans une ortho-graphe illisible. Aucune monographie n’était jusqu’alors consacré à cet auteur. L’article, condensant un livre à paraître, retrace la biographie de l’humaniste entre 1531–1558 et présente les activités du traducteur, du réformateur de l’orthographe et du grammairien. II révèle tant les influences subies que son originalité. La Grammaire de 1550 y est tout particulièrement analysée. Elle n’a pu être appréciée à sa juste valeur que par la linguistique structural du XXe siècle.

Louis Meigret (c.l500–c.l558), one of the great 16th-century linguists, has remained at best imperfectly known to the present day. One reason of this neglect is that most of his linguistic work was written in an almost inaccessibly difficult orthography devised by its author. The present article (summarizing a book in print) sketches the bibliography of this humanist between 1531 and 1558 and recounts his activities as translator, orthographic reformer, and grammarian. His sources of inspiration are traced, but his originality is shown as well. Particular attention is given to his Grammaire of 1550, which had to wait, it appears, until the establishment of a structural approach to language in the 20th century to be fully appreciated.