MARTIN, PAULIN. - Orientalist and biblical scholar, b. at Lecam (Lot, France) on 20 July 1840, d. at Amélie-les-Bains (Eastern Pyrenees) on 14 Jan. 1890. He studied theology in Paris (S. Sulpizio), where he Le Hir (v.), then in Rome, where he also pursued canon law and Oriental languages. From Oct. 1878 he taught Sacred Scripture and Oriental languages at the Catholic Institute of Paris, until his premature death. His considerable work deals chiefly with the Syriac language and the textual criticism of the New Testament.
Besides a great many articles, the following should be mentioned: Oeuvres grammaticales d'Aboul'Faradj, dit Bar-Hebraeus (2 vols., Paris 1872); Histoire de la ponctuation et de la massore chez les Syriens (ibid. 1875); Introduction à la critique générale de l'Anc. Test. (3 vols., ibid. 1887-98); Introduction à la critique textuelle du Nouv. Test. I. Partie théorique; II. Partie pratique (7 lithographed volumes reproducing his course at the Catholic Institute from 1882 to 1886).