A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues
Randle Cotgrave · 1611
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Description
Randle Cotgrave published his Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues in 1611, the first great French-English dictionary. Cotgrave served as secretary to a great lord and spent years gathering French words from books and speech. His England was learning the tongue of Montaigne and needed a bridge between the languages.
The dictionary gives French words with generous English equivalents, proverbs, and turns of phrase, often with a flash of humor. It records the spoken French of its day beside the literary language, which makes it a treasure house of early modern speech. Four hundred years on, it remains a foundation of French study in England. Scholars of Shakespeare's age use it to catch meanings that modern French has lost, and students of both tongues still delight in its riches.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Randle Cotgrave |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 1611 |
| COLLECTION | REFERENCE |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 5051372 |
| LICENSE | Public Domain |
| RIGHTS | PUBLIC DOMAIN |
| SOURCE | Internet Archive |