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French Linguist Alain Rey Passes Away

Alain Rey, October 28, 2015. JOEL SAGET / AFP
Alain Rey, October 28, 2015. JOEL SAGET / AFP
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French Linguist Alain Rey Passes Away

Alain Rey, October 28, 2015. JOEL SAGET / AFP
Alain Rey, October 28, 2015. JOEL SAGET / AFP

Famous French linguist Alain Rey, one of the major creators of the iconic dictionary Le Robert, died Tuesday at the age of 92, announced his wife and publishers les éditions Le Robert.

Rey, winner of many literary awards, was a member of the team brought together by French-Algerian lawyer Paul Robert to create a new French language dictionary. The six-volume dictionary known as Le Grand Robert saw the light in 1964, followed by le Petit Robert in 1967, and many other later versions.

Alain Rey was among the toughest defenders of the French language's evolution in its hybrid origin from different languages (such as Latin, Celtic, and German) and its constant interference with other languages like Italian, and Spanish. The late linguist had also overseen the creation of the Historical dictionary of the French language (1992).

His audience knew him through a daily morning segment discussing words and language on France Inter FM from 1993 to 2006. Rey won many prizes, and worked as a university professor in the US, and at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He also headed the terminology committee in the ministry of culture, and was known for his support to feminizing professions' names.

"Alain Rey had always insisted to represent the French language in all its challenges, richness, and mystery," a joint statement by his wife and Le Robert publishing house wrote.

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Dead Sea an 'Ecological Disaster', but No One Can Agree How to Fix It

The Dead Sea has been dying for years - AFP
The Dead Sea has been dying for years - AFP
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Dead Sea an 'Ecological Disaster', but No One Can Agree How to Fix It

The Dead Sea has been dying for years - AFP
The Dead Sea has been dying for years - AFP

An abandoned lifeguard cabin, a rusty pier and mangled umbrellas are all that is left of Ein Gedi, once a spot drawing international tourists to float in the world-famous waters of the Dead Sea.

Now, this lush desert oasis at the lowest point on Earth sits in ruins beside the shrinking sea, whose highly salty waters are rapidly retreating due to industrial use and climate change, which is accelerating their natural evaporation.

The beach has been closed to the public for five years, mainly due to the appearance of dangerous sinkholes, but also because the dramatic recession of the sea's level has made it tricky to reach its therapeutic waters, known for extraordinary buoyancy that lets bathers float effortlessly.
The increasingly exposed shoreline and the sinkholes, caused by a flow of freshwater dissolving layers of salt beneath the Earth's surface, are not new.
In fact, the Dead Sea, nestled where Jordanian and Palestinian territory meet, has famously been dying for years.

Now, with war raging in the Middle East, efforts to tackle this ever-worsening ecological disaster appear to have dissolved too.

"Regional cooperation is the key... to saving the Dead Sea," said Nadav Tal, a hydrologist and water officer for the Israel office of EcoPeace, a regional environmental nonprofit that has long advocated for finding a solution.

"Because we are living in a conflict area, there is an obstacle," he said, describing how the sea has been declining more than one metre (three feet) per year since the 1960s.

- 'Ecological disaster' -

The evaporation of the salty waters in a time of rapid climate change and in a place where summer temperatures can reach upward of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) has been exacerbated by decades of water diversions from the sea's main source -- the Jordan River -- as well as various tributaries that begin in Lebanon and Syria.

The water is also being pumped out by local factories extracting natural minerals -- potash, bromine, sodium chloride, magnesia, magnesium chloride and metal magnesium -- to sell to markets across the world.

"The consequences of this water diversion is what we see around us," Tal told AFP, pointing to a nearby pier that was once submerged in water but now stands firmly on dry land.

"It is an ecological disaster," he emphasized.

Although some efforts have been made to address the Dead Sea disaster, including past agreements signed by Israel and Jordan, the wars raging in Gaza and beyond have brought regional tensions to an all-time high, meaning tackling cross-border environmental issues is no longer a priority for governments in the region.