Vocabulary Of The Academics Of The Crusca

Description

In five volumes, the ‘Vocabolario degli accademici della Crusca’ records the correct use of the 14th-century vernacular following the example of the greatest writers of the time. The aim of the Accademia della Crusca, in fact, was to protect the Florentine vernacular according to the ideal fourteenth-century models proposed by the ‘fathers of the language’. The vocabulary imposed itself widely both in Italy and abroad. Accademia della Crusca, Italy's most prestigious linguistic academy, housed in the Villa di Castello in Florence. It was founded here in 1583 by Lionardo Salviati and a group of scholars who met under the name of the Brigata dei Crusconi, reacting burlesquely to the excessive pedantry of certain scholars. It was decided that all members should bear names relevant to the processing of wheat and flour, and the motto was ‘the most beautiful flower it picks’. The Academicians of the Crusca worked to distinguish the good and pure part of the language (flour) from the impure part (the bran).