[PAULIN or PAULINUS DE SAINT-BARTHÉLÉMY]. - Lot 248

[PAULIN or PAULINUS DE SAINT-BARTHÉLÉMY]. AMARASINHA. Sectio prima de Caelo, ex tribus ineditis codicibus indicis manuscriptis, curante P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo... Romae, apud Antonium Fulgonium, 1798. Large in-4 (31 x 23 cm). (2)-XII-60 pp. with wide margins, on laid paper. In contemporary pink paper wrappers, old handwritten title label on spine (paper missing from spine, cover soiled, slight oxidation of paper). Particularly rare. Remains as issued. Only one copy in the CCFr (BnF). Etymological work on the Sanskrit language. Translation of the first part of a poem, the Kosha - based on three unpublished Indian manuscripts - by the little-known Sanskrit poet and grammarian Amarasimha or Amara-siṃha (ancient India), edited by Father Paulin de Saint-Barthélemy (1748-1806). Contains the original Tamil text, accompanied by a Latin translation and notes. Sanskrit text printed in Grantha script. Paulinus de Saint Bartholomé was an Austrian Carmelite missionary in India, a great orientalist and author of numerous works on linguistics. A polyglot, he was the author of the first Sanskrit grammar published in Europe, and was one of the first to point out the similarities between Sanskrit and the Indo-European languages. [India].