La Révolution française dans les dictionnaires ou les dictionnaires en révolution

Abstract

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN DICTIONARIES: DICTIONARIES IN REVOLUTION

When the French Revolution begins, nobody seems to be prepared for such a political and social rupture. Language first tries to adapt to the changing conditions — new words appear, which is a necessity of the moment, to reflect new realities as well as to build a national community based on the same new values and symbols. At the beginning these words remain largely unknown or do not understand exactly what all the politicians debate about. Some old terms also change their conventional signification. A number of dictionaries are edited then to explain those new words to the people, as the revolutionary authorities soon realize that this must become a priority. These reerence books show nevertheless a subjective vision of the Revolution. The aim of this article is to recount the narration of those dictionaries in, of course, a very limited perspective.