They had one child, a daughter, Yvonne, whose marriage to Joseph Billot produced a single child, Frederic Billot, in 1926. Eight years later, Yvonne died of pneumonia, and Mrs. Calment raised her grandson in the family home. He became a medical doctor and died before her, in an automobile accident in 1960.

Mrs. Calment rode a bicycle until she was 100 and walked all over Arles to thank those who congratulated her on her birthday that year.

At age 110 her increasing frailty forced her to move into a nursing home. ''She complained about the food in the nursing home, which was sort of like baby food,'' Mr. Robine said today. ''She said it always tasted the same.''

At the age of 115, she fell and fractured two bones, and her memory began to fail. But she retained a tart wit. ''When you're 117, you see if you remember everything!'' she rebuked an interviewer five years ago. When somebody took leave by telling her, ''Until next year, perhaps,'' she retorted: ''I don't see why not! You don't look so bad to me.''

By the time she turned 122, she was so hard of hearing that it was difficult to communicate with her.

The name of the person who has taken Mrs. Calment's place as oldest living human was a topic of considerable international confusion today. Philip Littlemore of the Guinness Book of World Records in London said the oldest known person whose date of birth was as well documented as Mrs. Calment's was Lucy Askew, a British woman who turned 104 last Sept. 8. But several others may also have claim to the title, including at least one in the United States.

Mrs. Calment left no heirs. She also outlived Andre-Francois Raffray, a lawyer who 32 years ago, when she was merely 90, bought the apartment she used to live in on a contingency contract. He would pay her 2,500 francs (now about $400) a month until she died, and then the apartment would become his.