Dictionnaires d'autrefois

French dictionaries of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries

Use the search box below to simultaneously query Jean Nicot's Thresor de la langue française (1606), Jean-François Féraud's Dictionaire critique de la langue française (1787-1788), Émile Littré's Dictionnaire de la langue française (1872-1877) and the Dictionnaire de L'Académie française 1st (1694), 4th (1762), 5th (1798), 6th (1835), and 8th (1932-5) editions. Enter one word, accents optional (eg., parlement or humanité).

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Dictionnaires d'autrefois

• Jean Nicot, Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne 
  Jean Nicot's Thresor de la langue françoyse is the key to the development of French lexicography. The sum of four editions of Robert Estienne's bilingual Dictionaire françois-latin, the Thresor assumed, through the contributions of Nicot, the nature of a monolingual French dictionary.
• Jean-François Féraud, Dictionaire critique de la langue française 
  Jean-François Féraud's Dictionaire critique de la langue française (1787-1788) is far from a mere general dictionary. Féraud's major concern in this wide and comprehensive release of his Dictionnaire grammatical is to provide foreigners or people from the remote regions of France with a comprehensive and easy guide to authorized, proper usage of French. Not only does he mention and criticize the major sources of good usage, such as the Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française, Trévoux's or Richelet's dictionaries, he also adds a wide range of his own grammatical remarks, proving in doing so to be one of the most penetrating observers of post-classical French language. As such, it will help many students and scholars towards a better understanding of Rousseau, Diderot, and Beaumarchais' fascinating works. Féraud homepage and full-text search form.
• Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française
  The Académie française was founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635 with the primary goal of creating a French dictionary. A total of eight editions have been published in the years since its foundation, from the first edition in 1694 up until the eighth edition in 1935. The ninth edition is currently in progress. The ARTFL Project, in collaboration with the Projet d'informatisation du Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, is pleased to offer electronic versions of the first (1694), 4th (1762), 5th (1798), 6th (1835), and 8th (1932-5) editions.
• Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française
  Thanks to data provided by François Gannaz at XMLittré, we have incorporated Émile Littré's literary dictionary of classical French (1872-1877) into our Dictionnaires d'autrefois Collection.