Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

31552

Title

Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa

Language

pt

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Cândido de Figueiredo's monumental dictionary addresses the stagnation of Portuguese lexicography, arguing for a comprehensive vocabulary that includes scientific, artistic, and rural terms neglected by predecessors. Blending scholarly rigor with a defense of the language's evolution, this work serves as both a practical reference and a passionate manifesto for linguistic unity and expansion.

Summary up to 500 words

In the preface to his *Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa*, Cândido de Figueiredo launches a rigorous critique of the historical state of Portuguese lexicography. He argues that previous dictionaries, while containing monumental works of scholarship, failed to keep pace with the natural evolution of the language. Figueiredo laments that earlier lexicographers ignored vast vocabularies found in chronicles, popular speech, and rural life, restricting their focus narrowly to erudite usage. Consequently, the language expanded through modern science, technology, and international exchange, while the dictionaries remained static, omitting thousands of words, neologisms, and terms from the colonies that were essential to the national inventory. Figueiredo aims to rectify these deficiencies by registering a vast array of terms, including common nouns, specialized scientific classifications, and regional dialects previously overlooked. He explicitly defends the inclusion of diverse linguistic facts, noting that many words used by literary masters like Vieira and Camillo were absent from standard lexicons. The dictionary is organized alphabetically, offering detailed etymologies, definitions, and usage notes to serve as an essential tool for understanding the full scope of the Portuguese language. A significant portion of the work addresses the complexities of orthography following the 1911 reform. This reform simplified spelling by removing redundant consonants, eliminating the use of *k*, *y*, and *w*, and adapting diacritics. However, Figueiredo adopts a pragmatic approach, choosing to record both traditional and simplified forms to reflect the reality of usage across Portugal and Brazil. He acknowledges that while the simplified orthography is officially adopted, the majority of the population, particularly in Brazil, had not yet fully embraced it. Therefore, the dictionary serves all parties: etymologists, traditionalists, and reformists, by registering legitimate variants such as *filósofo* and *filósofo*, or *teatro* and *teatro*. Through extensive footnotes, the author engages with the complexities of Brazilian Portuguese variants, positioning the work as a comprehensive record of the language's current state rather than a prescriptive manual for a future that had not yet arrived.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Dictionaries
• Portuguese Language