USP – Conférence : "Qui a inventé le dictionnaire ?"

What could be more common than a dictionary? Dictionaries are, of course, words and things themselves expressed and explained by words. However, behind these dictionaries are hidden men (but not women until very recently!), who are their authors. Far from being linear, the history of dictionaries of the French language is, on the contrary, strewn with personal rivalries, ideological conflicts, even dramas… These large books are more human than their arid columns suggest. Who are these men and what were their intentions, their motivations? We will discover their history, which spans five centuries, since 1539 precisely, the date of the publication of Robert Estienne's "Dictionaire françois-latin" (with only one "n") and which continues to the present day with digitized dictionaries, online or on CD-ROMs, from major publishing houses such as Larousse or Le Robert.

Master of Science and Agricultural Engineer, Doctor of Oceanography, Alain HERBLAND worked as a researcher in biological oceanography at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and then at the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER). For the past twelve years, he has been exploring dictionaries and their history, an activity initially intended to satisfy his curiosity and which has gradually transformed into a passion, more or less reasoned... Passion to share