The enterprising and tenacious Guy Miège: four dictionaries from 1677 to 1688

Conference item

Guy Miège, an inspired and inventive humanist who, from 1668, taught languages in London, is among the first non-Britishers to venture into dictionary-making in England. His lexicographic career, short but intense, is impressive: over a period of eleven years, he compiled four French-English dictionaries, three with an English-French counterpart. Each is unique and results from distinct motivations. His first dictionary, published in 1677 under the tiele A New Dictionary French and English, is a temerarious attempt to reflect the "present Use and modern Orthography" of the French, and to reform the use Britishers were making of bilingual dictionaries. Miège's production might have ended there, had it not been for some prejudicial reaction to his first work, which drove him to publish A Dictionary of Barbarous French in 1679 as a mere favour to satisfy his detractors. Miège made another fresh start in 1684 with his Short Dictionary, reaching out to a broader audience to which he appealed in different terms. Conceived both for the "New Beginners [in the study of the French language], and such as cannot reach to the Price of a great Volume" (Miège 1684: [Preface: 2]) the Short Dictionary reveals a new influence on Miège, that of Richelet, who had just published, in France, the first monolingual dictionary of the French. This influence was to show even more in Miège's last work. Originally intended as a mere revision of the New Dictionary, the Great French Dictionary of 1688 ended up being, so Miège says in the preface, "a New Piece of Work", "a new Production of [his] Pains and Industry [...], and the Result of many Years Study". Presented by Miège as his "last Hand", it crowns a development in his lexicographic description of the French language that will constitute the main focus of my presentation.

Authors: Francoeur, A

• Alternative title: Presented at French Lexicography session
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Language: English
• Subjects: French; Lexicography