Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca

Volumes of the 4th edition of the Vocabolario

Incipit of a volume of the 4th Edition

TheVocabolario degli Accademici della Cruscawas the firstdictionaryof theItalian language,published in 1612 by theAccademia della Crusca.It was also only the second dictionary of a modern European language, being just one year later than theTesoro de la lengua castellana o españolabySebastián de Covarrubiasin Spain in 1611.

Background

Stone plaque commemorating the firstVocabolarioin via Pellicceria, Florence, near thePalazzo di Parte Guelfa

In1583theAccademia della Cruscawas founded inFlorencewith the aim of codifying theTuscan dialectand producing a comprehensive dictionary, drawing mainly on the lexicon of canonical literary texts from Florentine authors of the 'golden age' in the fourteenth century, such asDante,PetrarcaandBoccaccio.Work on theVocabolariowas begun in 1591 thanks toLionardo Salviati's interest inphilology.His search for words extended beyond the published works of great writers to include the unedited manuscript texts held in the collections of the various Florentine academies;he also compiled usage from writers after the golden age, includingLorenzo de' Medici,Francesco Berni,Niccolò Machiavelli,and, indeed, from his own writing. He also drew on non-Florentine sources such asPietro BemboandLudovico Ariosto.The work was edited entirely in Florence – eventually, thirty six academicians were working full time on it – although the printing was done inVeniceunder the supervision of the Accademia's secretary,it:Bastiano de' Rossi.

The original title for the work wasVocabolario della lingua toscana(1608)However when it was in its final stages of development and a request for permission to print had already been sent, a lengthy discussion started among the academicians as to whether a different title should be used. Failing to reach unanimity on this, they eventually adopted the neutral titleVocabolario degli Accademici della Cruscaalong with the subtitleAs derived from the writers and usage of the city of Florence.The original title was retained however on the licence to print granted by the Republic of Venice in January 1611.

First edition

Theeditio princepswas published in 1612. The work was innovative because it was one of the first examples of organising entries inAlpha betical orderrather than by topic, as then became the norm for this kind of book.In other respects too, it was organised differently from sixteenth-century lexicons, with less distinction between the language of prose and the language of poetry, as well as fewer references to regional uses and grammatical issues. In terms ofetymologythe only words analysed are those which are courteous and relevant ( "che abbiano gentilezza e sieno a proposito" ). As far aslemmasare concerned, there were a great many local Florentine forms, as well as a number oflatinisms.Among the items not included were terms either already in common use or particularly obscure. Technical and scientific terms had only brief summary descriptions.The individual entries have a standard form: the definitions of concrete nouns consist of a singlesynonym,while abstract nouns have a larger number;homonymsfrom different parts are labelled as such, andparticipleforms are included in the entry for theirinfinitivesunless there is a clear reason for placing them separately.

Despite criticisms of the archaic Tuscan dialect, theVocabolariobecame widely established both in Italy and abroad; its superiority over earlier lexicons lay primarily in the way it was organised, and in the large number of supporting quotations it provided for each entry, highly unusual in those days.

Second edition

Frontispiece of the second edition (1623).

The second edition, also edited by Bastiano de' Rossi, was published in Venice in 1623.It was largely a reprint of the first edition, with some added material from more recent authors such asAnnibal Caro,Lorenzo de' Medici,Michelangelo,Claudio Tolomei,it:Ludovico Martelliandit:Bernardo Segni.It contained a greater number of abstract nouns than the first edition, and provided an improved approach to article structure, avoiding clumsy or inconvenient cross-references.

Third edition

The third edition was published in three volumes in Florence itself in 1691. It tried to take into account some of the criticisms levelled against the first edition.

• it introduced the noteva( "voce antica" = "obsolete term" ) to indicate words which were included because of their historical importance rather than because of their relevance as examples to follow
• the list of authors used as sources for the entries was widened considerably and included more recent ones
• the number of articles dealing with scientific terms was increased, using works such asGalileo'sDialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systemsas sources.Francesco Redidid a lot of work in this field, although he also invented a fictitious source, one 'Sandro da Pippozzo', to support some of his entries). Other contributors includedLorenzo Magalottiand PrinceLeopoldo de' Medici,who introduced entries related to hunting, military architecture and navy as a result of his own fieldwork.
• suffixesand modified forms were added to the lemmas.
• not all entries relied on author citations, meaning that effectively items were included on the simple authority of the Accademia della Crusca itself rather than on literary precedent.
• numerousloanwordsand terms in common use were included.

Fourth edition

The fourth edition came out in Florence in six volumes between 1729 and 1738, edited byDomenico Maria Manni.The range of writers used as references was extended to includeIacopo Sannazaro,Benvenuto Cellini,Benedetto Menziniand.Lorenzo Lippi.

In comparison with the previous edition:

• a number of common words relating to farming were added, as were references to families of words
• loan-words were included with author citations
• questions ofregisterand style were addressed
• scientific terms borrowed from Latin or Greek were included
• there was a much greater range of technical and scientific terms

Fifth edition

During theNapoleonicperiod Tuscany was ruled first as theKingdom of Etruriaand then annexed to France (1807–1814). During this time the official language of government was French. Nevertheless on 9 April 1809 Napoleon issued a decree allowing Florentines to use their native language alongside French, in the courts, legal documents and private correspondence. In addition it announced the establishment of an annual prize of 500napoleonito authors whose works best contributed to maintaining the Italian language in all its purity.

A further decree on 9 January 1811 re-established the Accademia della Crusca and charged it specifically with revising the dictionary as well as with preserving the purity of the language.Academicians were to be paid an annual stipend of 500franchi,or 1,000 francs if they were working on the dictionary, while 1,200 was provided for the secretary. Nevertheless the work remained incomplete: publication stopped after the letter "O", which ended when the entry for 'ozono' was reached in 1923.

20th century

From 1955 the plan of work changed, and the aim became to produce a great historical dictionary that would include the 'treasures' of the Italian language. In 1965 the work of producing the historical dictionary was split off from the Accademia and a separate 'Opera del Vocabolario' was set up. A law of 6 January 1983 established the Opera del Vocabolario as an institute of theNational Research Council,working on the language up to 1375, while the Accademia itself now focuses on the modern language.

External links

• first edition of theVocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca
• all five editions in electronic version