Said’s claim about de Sacy’s role in Egypt’s expedition lacks evidence

Evidence

Said says many of Bonaparte’s Arabic interpreters had been students of the great Orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, but this does not seem very likely. De Sacy began teaching only in 1796and, as has been indicated, he was perfectly incapable of teaching the Egyptian colloquial. Certainly Said provides no evidence at all for the involvement of France’s leading Orientalist in the Egyptian project. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 247

Categorization

• XREF: Another instance of the book’s sustained corrective critique of Said’s specific factual claims.