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"Fitzsimmons, Michael P., 1949- author"
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From its initial appearance in 1694 and through successive editions in 1718, 1740, and 1762, the Dictionnaire de l’Académie Française had risen to become the definitive arbiter of the French language. Preparation of the fifth edition was at an advanced state when the French Revolution began in 1789 but it remained unfinished when the National Convention suppressed academies in August 1793. Seeking to codify the language of the Revolution, the Convention commissioned two Parisian publishers to complete the fifth edition, hoping that it would be a vehicle for promoting the ideals of the Revolution in the manner that the earlier editions had for the values of absolute monarchy. When it appeared during the year VI (1798), however, it was completely anachronistic and barely took note of the Revolution except for a brief supplement of “words in use since the Revolution” that comprised only a small fraction of its content. Another Parisian publisher believed its deficiencies offered an opportunity to publish a competing edition, which he did, along with a partner, in 1802. The holders of the rights to the fifth edition took them to court for piracy, initiating protracted legislation in which they ultimately prevailed. Preparation of the sixth edition had been entrusted to the Institut National and the Napoleonic regime was eager to see it completed, but Bonaparte fell before that occurred. The restored Bourbon dynasty was also eager to see the new edition completed but it was overthrown in 1830. The sixth edition appeared only in 1835 and, similar to the fifth edition it supplanted, it glossed over the Revolution—as well as the Napoleonic period—but in a different manner. Although the dictionary included definitions from the revolutionary and Napoleonic era, it frequently elided the period through the phrase “at a certain epoch.”
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