French Literature Reviews - 2026
T. Matsumura, Dictionnaire du français médiéval (M. Zink (dir.))
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Takeshi Matsumura, Dictionnaire du français médiéval, Paris: Les Belles Lettres, coll. "Romans, Essais, Poésie, Documents", 2015.
Editorial coordination by Michel Zink
EAN13: 9782251445540
3520 pages
85.00 EUR
Publisher's Overview
Featuring 56,212 entries, this dictionary of Old and Middle French is designed for anyone interested in the history of the language and literature of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to help readers understand French texts from the medieval period—from the Oaths of Strasbourg in 842 to the end of the 15th century—by providing a comprehensive vocabulary list complete with etymological and geographical indications, reliable definitions, and rigorously verified citations.
About the Author
Takeshi Matsumura, professor at the University of Tokyo, is one of the world's leading lexicographers of the French language, and his scholarly work is widely recognized as authoritative. Many of the entries in his dictionary offer new insights or correct previous errors (such as first attestations or word meanings). For the first time, the author specifies the regional origin and literary genre of the provided examples, which are selected and analyzed with exceptional insight, illuminating the meanings of words without unnecessarily burdening or lengthening the volume.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Abbreviations
DICTIONARY OF MEDIEVAL FRENCH
Lexicographical studies of medieval vernaculars occupy a central place in historical linguistics and medieval philology, providing the empirical foundation necessary for reading and editing historical texts. The transition from Latin to the Romance languages in medieval France produced a rich corpus of administrative, legal, and literary documents spanning centuries of linguistic evolution. Historical dictionaries of Old and Middle French serve as reference works for scholars navigating the shifting semantics, etymologies, and regional variants characteristic of the medieval period.
Readers interested in the history of the French language and medieval literature may find this volume relevant to their textual studies. The work compiles vocabulary from the Oaths of Strasbourg through the end of the fifteenth century, supplying verified citations, etymological details, and geographical data to support the reading of period manuscripts and printed materials.