Arsène Darmesteter

Arsène Darmesteter (born Jan. 5, 1846, Château-Salins, Fr.—died Nov. 16, 1888, Paris) was a language scholar who advanced knowledge of the history of French, particularly through his elucidation of Old French. Prior to becoming professor of Old French language and literature at the Sorbonne (1881), he published Traité de la formation des mots . . . (1873; “Treatise on the Formation of Words . . .”) and La Vie des mots . . . (1887;...