Frédéric Godefroy

Textes réunis et présentés par Frédéric Duval. Paris, École des chartes, 2003. 455 pp. Pb €30.00. The present work offers a further attractive addition to recent evaluations of notable French nineteenth-century linguists (cf. the various papers on Paul Meyer and Gaston Paris in the Monfrin recueil (2001), FS, lviii (2004), 152–53, and the in-depth assessment of Gaston Paris in Revue des Langues Romanes, 106 (2002), pt 1). However, as the twenty-four contributions to this volume demonstrate, Frédéric Godefroy (1826–97) occupies a very special and remarkable position on the nineteenth-century linguistic scene. He compiled what is still held to be the most fundamental dictionary of reference for Old French, the ten-volume Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXeau XVesiecle (1881–1902) of which the first eight volumes and part of the ninth appeared before his death, the remainder being completed by his assistants, J. Bonnard and A. Salmon. Yet, Godefroy was self-taught and, until 1867, earned his living as a secondary-school teacher displaying from the outset unparallelled diligence in his research work and writing. It was his enthusiasm for a more progressive secondary education curriculum fostering an awareness of the history of French literature and language that led him to travel far and wide to schools and seminaries spreading his ideas and, while doing so, he acquainted himself with the rich archival resources available in France. In the midst of his activities, during ‘une certaine nuit, inoubliable pour moi’ in 1851, Godefroy conceived the idea of his dictionary (p. 42). His archival labours were to provide a major resource for this work and indeed inspired thoughts of yet other ambitious lexicographical ventures, such as the Dictionnaire historique de la langue moderne that he planned but was ultimately forced to abandon in 1877. The editor's introductory presentation and the three contributions in the first section focusing on ‘L'homme et l'érudit’ trace and assess in fascinating detail the career and prolific output of Godefroy, poignantly detailing en passant the rebuffs that he systematically received from the philological establishment of his time, whose recognition he so earnestly sought but never won

Art · Art history · Diligence · Enthusiasm · Humanities · Theology · Classics · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies · Medieval European Literature and History · Philosophy