BELOT, Jean-Baptiste
He was born in the town of Lux, which is now part of the Côte d’Or province in the Bourgogne region of France. He studied rhetoric, Greek-Latin literature and philosophy for a year at the Dijon seminary, and took grammar lessons in particular.
In 1842, Compagnie entered the Jésus organization, where he completed the remaining priesthood education. He went to Algeria in 1844 and worked as a teacher there for two years. He learned Arabic while he was in Algeria.
He returned to France in 1847, and two years later he wrote his work Éléments de la Grammaire Arabe (Vals 1849). He held various positions in the church organization. He studied theology in Rome between 1855-1859. He went to Lebanon in 1866. After spending his first two years in Lebanon teaching at a school run by Jesuit priests, he went to Beirut, where he stayed until his death.
He started writing and publishing in Beirut. He published many Arabic works on spirituality, Christian life, and the scriptures (for these works see H. Fleisch, p. 3-4). He became director of the Catholic Printing House in 1872 and remained in this post until 1898. From 1898 until his death, he only oversaw the Arabic department.
Works. 1. Éléments de la Grammaire Arabe (lithograph, Waltz 1849).
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Nüḫabü’l-mülaḥ (with A. Rodet; I-V, Beirut 1870-1874). Many editions of the work, which includes selections from Arabic literature, were made later.
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al-Farâʾidü’d-yorriyye fi’l-luġateyni’l-ʿArabiyye ve’l-Faransiyye (Vocabulaire Arabe-Français) (Beirut 1883). Belot prepared this work based on P. Cuche’s dictionary. This work has also been published many times; it also has small volume prints.
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Dictionnaire Français-Arabe (Beirut 1890).
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Cours Pratique de Langue Arabe (Beirut 1896).
