Antoine Cabaton

French philologist, translator and historian Antoine Cabaton (11 Dec.1863, Nérondes, France ‑1942, Nice, France) was a philologist, translator (from Spanish and Dutch) and historian, one of the founders of the Insulindian studies in the Western world who contributed to the development of the historical research on Cambodia and Champa.

After studying medecine and briefly working in a pharmacy, Cabaton devoted himself to Orientalist and Philology studies. As Louis Finot’s personal secretary, he was actively involved in the foundation of Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient (EFEO). In 1901, he married Lucie Camus, a young historian and former student of Jean Jaurès. 

He studied Sanskrit under the mentorship of Prof. Sylvain Lévi before becoming archivist for the French National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), Cabaton taught the Malay language as a professor at Ecole des langues orientales, Paris, from 1920 to 1933. He has extensively studied the Cham culture, language and traditions, Islam in Southeast Asia as well as Spanish sources on ancient Southeast Asia. In 1910 – 1913, he was sent by the National Library to Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands to prospect documents on the history of Cambodia and Champa in the 16th and 17th centuries through the archives of these respective countries. 

After staying in Indochina from 1897 to 1898, and again from 1901 to 1906, he directed the creation of Khmer, Cham and Bengali font types for Paris Imprimerie Nationale, publishing in collaboration with Etienne Aymonier the noted Dictionnaire Cam-Français (EFEO, 1906). Cabaton also completed and published posthumously for Antoine Brébion (1857−1917) his monumental Dictionnaire de bio-bibliographie générale, ancienne et moderne (Annales de l’Academie des Etudes Coloniales, Vol. VIII, SEGMC, Paris).

He also translated history volumes on the Muslim world from Dutch to French, such as Heilige oorlog made in Germany; Eenige Arabische strydschriften besproken; De opstand in Arabie; and Snouck Hurgronje De Islam in Nederlandsch Indië. After receiving the Legion d’Honneur in 1920, he retired on the French Riviera, with only one (major) publication in his later years, Antoine Brébion’s Dictionnaire de bio-bibliographie générale, ancienne et moderne de l’Indochine française [Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Bio-Bibliography of French Indochina] (1935).

Selected Publications

1. Nouvelles recherches sur les Chams, Paris, E. Leroux, PEFEO 2, 1901.
2. La transcription du cam, Mémoires de la Societe de linguistique (MSL), T. XIII, 1903.
3. “Un abrégé malais du catéchisme musulman”, T’oung Pao, 1903.
4. “Une traduction malaise de la ​‘Aqidah d’Al-Senusi”, Journal Asiatique (JA), 1904.
5. L’inscription chame de Biên·Hoà, BEFEO IV, 1904, p. 607.
6. Les Chams de l’Indochine (Extrait de la Revue coloniale), Paris, A. Challamel, 1905.
7. “Dix dialectes indochinois. Étude linguistique et géographique”, JA, 1905.
8. [with E. Aymonier] Dictionnaire cam-français, Paris, E. Leroux, 1906.
9. Les papiers scientifiques de Landes, JA, 1906.
10. ‘Annam’; ​‘Calendar (lndo-Chinese)’; ​‘Cambodia’; ​‘Cham’; ​‘lndo·China (Savages races)’, entries in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, J. Hastings ed, [from] 1908.
11. “Quelques documents espagnols et portugais sur l’Indochine aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles”, JA, 1908.
12. Les Indes néerlandaises, Paris, E. Leroux, 1910.
13. “La vie domestique au Cambodge”, Revue Indochinoise (RI) XII‑2, Feb. 1910, p. 103 – 117.
14. Java, Sumatra and the other islands of the Dutch East lndies, London, 1911; repr. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1914, [preface by Bernard Miall], 392 p.
15. Note sur les sources européennes de l’histoire de l’Indochine, Bulletin de la Commission archéologique de l’Indochine V, 1911.
16. Conférences publiques sur l’Indochine à l’Ecole coloniale, année scolaire 1911 – 1912, Paris, Chaix, 1912.
17. Catalogue des manuscrits sanskrits, palis, indiens, indochinois et malayo-polynésiens de la Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, 1912.
18. “Les Malais de l’Indochine francaise, moeurs et coutumes”, RI XVIII‑8, Jul.-Aug. 1912, p. 161 – 171.
19. Missions en Espagne, Portugal, Italie et Hollande, à l’effet de rechercher dans les Archives d’Espagne et de Portugal des documents relatifs à l’histoire du Cambodge et du Champa au XVIe et au XVIIe siècle, Rapports, 1910 – 1913.
20. L’Espagne en Indochine à la fin du XVIe siècle, Revue d’Histoire des Colonies françaises (RHCF), 1913.
21. The races and peoples of lndo·China, London, 1913.
22. [ed. and tr.] Brève et véridique relation des événements du Cambodge par Gabriel Quiroga de San Antonio, Paris, E. Leroux, 1914. | repr. as Les derniers Conquistadores, la non-conquête du Cambodge, Editions Anacharsis, Toulouse, 2009. | ENG A Brief and Truthful Relation of Events in the Kingdom of Cambodia, tr. by Walter E. J. Tips, Bangkok, White Lotus Press, 1998, 186 p.
23. [ed. and tr.] Le Mémorial de Pedro Sevil à Philippe III sur la conquête de l’Indochine (1603), Bulletin de la Commission archeologique de l’Indochine, 1916.
24. “Les Hollandais au Cambodge au XVIIe siècle”, RHCF, 1917.
25. Les Hollandais au Cambodge et au Laos au XVIIe siècle, Leyde, 1919.
26. “L’Islam dans l’Indochine française”, in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, 1920.
27. [posthumous ed. of Antoine Brébion​’s] Dictionnaire de bio-bibliographie générale, ancienne et moderne de l’Indochine française, Paris, Annales de l’Académie des Sciences Coloniales n. 8, Société d’Editions Géographiques et Maritimes, 1935, 453 p.