La base lexicographique du Dictionnaire de l'Académie française (1694-1992): quelques mesures [1994, rptd. 1995, 1996, 2008]

Abstract

The assertion made by N. Catach (CHWP B.21), that the various editions of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française constitute a single, essentially unchanging lexicographical base, is tested on a sample corpus of computerized entries from the point of view of text forms, headwords, examples, semantic description and lexicographical discourse. Indeed, from the first edition to the eighth, the stock of lexical items changes little, the metalanguage scarcely evolves, and only in the ninth (in progress) is a seriously revised description of the lexical material — much of it still dating back to 1694 — being undertaken. The eight complete editions, each in two volumes, form a remarkably homogeneous, and eminently computerizable, corpus.