Le Dictionnaire Universel de Basnage est-il aussi un dictionnaire d’apprentissage ?

Résumé 0

The Dictionnaire Universel compiled by Antoine Furetière (1690) was a disruptive work from many points of view. Its second edition (1701), realized by Basnage de Beauval, in its turn was particularly innovative in several aspects. One of these was a strong attention of the lexicographer to the target-group of the dictionary. Although the concept of “learner’s dictionary” is quite recent, it seems clear that, in addition to working on terminology and content, Basnage de Beauval prepared his work for an audience who was faced with the challenge of learning French. In particular, comparing first and second edition of the Dictionnaire Universel, three elements of innovation spring to mind : grammar, pronunciation and example sentences. We use here a new digital version of the 1701 edition, prepared as part of the BasNum project and funded by the ANR ( Agence nationale de la recherche), in order to examine these more closely to demonstrate that Basnage did indeed reinforce the pedagogical aspects of the Dictionnaire Universel.