Editing Pierre Daniel Huet (section)

==Works==
[[File:Huet - Histoire du commerce, 1763 - 223.tif|thumb|200px|''Histoire du commerce'', [[1763]].]]

[[File:Huet - Censura philosophiae Cartesianae, 1723 - 1471600.jpg |thumb|''Censura philosophiae Cartesianae'', 1723]]
He translated the pastorals of [[Longus]], wrote a tale called ''Diane de Castro'', and gave with his ''[[Traitté de l'origine des romans]]'' (1670), his ''Treatise on the Origin of Romances'' the first world history of fiction.  On being appointed assistant tutor to the [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]] in 1670, he edited, with the assistance of [[Anne Lefêvre]] (afterwards Madame Dacier) and [[Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]], the well-known book series, the ''[[Delphin Classics]]'' (referred to in the original Latin as the "Ad usum Delphini" series). This series published comprehensive editions of the Latin classics in about sixty volumes, and each work was accompanied by a Latin commentary, ''ordo verborum'', and verbal index. The original volumes have each an engraving of [[Arion]] and a [[dolphin]], and the appropriate inscription ''in usum serenissimi Delphini''.

In addition to Huet's edition and translation of the ancient Greek theologian [[Origen]], Huet published two works on the history and process of translation itself, "De optimo genere interpretandi" ("On the best kind of translating") and "De claris interpretibus" ("On famous translators"; 3rd and last ed. 1683).

He issued one of his major works, the ''Demonstratio evangelica'', in 1679.  At Aulnay he wrote his ''Questiones Aletuanae'' (Caen, 1690),<ref>{{Cite book|title=Alnetanae Quaestiones de concordia rationis et fidei|last=Huet|first=Pierre Danie|year=1719|publisher=apud haered. Iohannis Grossii |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_gYrc5a8gEoAC/page/n3/mode/2up}}
</ref> his ''Censura philosophiae Cartesianae'' (Paris, 1689), his ''Nouveau mémoire pour servir à l'histoire du Cartésianisme'' (''New Memoirs to Serve The History of Cartesianism'', 1692), and his discussion with [[Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux]] on the Sublime.

[[A. E. Housman]] described Huet as "a critic of uncommon exactness, sobriety, and malevolence".<ref>A. E. Housman, ''M. Manilii Astronomicon'' I, London, 1903, p. xiv; reprinted in ''Selected Prose'', ed. J. Carter, Cambridge, 1961, p. 27.</ref> In the ''Huetiana'' (1722) of [[Pierre-Joseph Thoulier d'Olivet]] will be found material for arriving at an idea of his prodigious labours, exact memory and wide scholarship.  Another posthumous work was his ''Traité philosophique de la faiblesse de l'esprit humain'' (original spelling: ''Traité philosophique de la foiblesse de l’esprit humain'') (Amsterdam, 1723), which he considered to be his best work. His autobiography, found in his ''Commentarius de rebus ad eum pertinentibus'' (Paris, 1718), has been translated into French<ref>Mémoires de Pierre Daniel Huet, new edition, Philippe-Joseph Salazar Ed., Paris/Toulouse, Klincksieck/SLC, 1993, 170 p. ({{ISBN|2-908728-13-3}})</ref> and into English.

According to {{ill|Maurice Rat|fr}},<ref>Maurice Rat, ''Grammairiens et amateurs de beau langage'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1963, p. 100.</ref> Huet "was after [[Gilles Ménage|Ménage]] the best etymologist of his time". For example, it was he who understood that the final "bec" of certain toponyms of French Normandy (as [[Houlbec-Cocherel|Houlbec]]) means "stream" and is related to the German word of the same meaning "Bach", also present at the end of many toponyms.