Michel Jules Alfred Bréal (French: [miʃɛl bʁeal]; 26 March 1832 – 25 November 1915), French philologist, was born at Landau in Rhenish Palatinate. He is often identified as a founder of modern semantics. He was also the creator of the modern marathon race, having proposed its first running at the 1896 Olympic Games and offered what would become known as Breal's Silver Cup to the winner.
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👉 Michel Bréal in the context of Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (c. 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
A creation of the French philologist Michel Bréal inspired by a story from Ancient Greece, the marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896 in Athens. The distance did not become standardized until 1921. The distance is also included in the World Athletics Championships, which began in 1983. It is the only running road race included in both championship competitions (walking races on the roads are also contested in both).
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Michel Bréal in the context of Antoine Meillet
Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (French: [ɑ̃twan mɛjɛ]; 11 November 1866 – 21 September 1936) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he was influenced by Michel Bréal, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, and the members of the L'Année sociologique. In 1890 he was part of a research trip to the Caucasus, where he studied the Armenian language. After his return, de Saussure had gone back to Geneva, so Meillet continued the series of lectures on comparative linguistics that de Saussure had given.
In 1897 Meillet completed his doctorate, Research on the Use of the Genitive-Accusative in Old Slavonic. In 1902 he took a chair in Armenian at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales and took under his wing Hrachia Adjarian, who would become the founder of modern Armenian dialectology. In 1905 Meillet was elected to the Collège de France, where he taught on the history and structure of Indo-European languages. One of his most-quoted statements is that "anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant." He worked closely with linguists Paul Pelliot and Robert Gauthiot.
Michel Bréal in the context of Linguistic Society of Paris
The Société de Linguistique de Paris (established 1864) is the editing body of the BSL (Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique) journal. Members of the society have included such well-known French linguists as Bréal, Saussure, Meillet, and Benveniste. Its first president was Antoine d'Abbadie.
In addition to its monthly meetings, the group holds a one-day conference each January dedicated to a particular topic. In 1997, it organised the Congrès International des Linguistes in Paris.
Michel Bréal in the context of Breal's Silver Cup
Bréal's Cup is the trophy awarded to Spyros Louis, the Marathon winner at the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens, in 1896. The Cup was designed by French philhellene Michel Bréal, who had the original idea to include a Marathon race in the Olympic Games.
The Cup is made of pure silver. On the top part of the Cup there is the inscription "OLYMPIC GAMES 1896, MARATHON TROPHY DONATED BY MICHAEL BREAL". The remaining surface of the Cup had a relief decoration depicting birds and aquatic plants known to exist in the swamp lands of Marathon in ancient times. With this reference, Breal wanted to give the Cup a symbolic significance and connect the ancient Olympic Games with the modern ones. The Cup belongs to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which acquired it at an auction held on April 18, 2012 by Christie's in London. A delegation from the Municipality of Amarousion, the birthplace of Spyros Louis, attended and bid in the auction. The Cup was sold by the grandson of Spyros Louis, who has the same name.