At Origin of Giuseppe Boerio’s Dizionario del dialetto veneziano (1821, 1829)

Abstract

The article analyzes the “Discorso preliminare” that opens Giuseppe Boerio’s Dizionario del dialetto veneziano. It shows the debts to some writings of Daniele Manin, the Boerio’s intention to assert the primacy of his Dizionario and the influence of Cesarotti’s theories. It subsequently examines the “Indice degli autori e de’ libri consultati per l’opera presente”. Through the analysis of the brief table of citations, it investigates the linguistic criteria of Boerio’s Dizionario and it highlights the close correlation with the Vocabolario Veneziano e Padovano by the abbot Gasparo Patriarchi and with Francesco Alberti di Villanova’s Dizionario universale. It also reflects the support provided by Manin to Boerio and it marks out the development of the “Appendice” and the “Indice italiano-veneto”. It finally heeds the existence of an autographed copy of the Dizionario, dated 1821 and now preserved in Bassano del Grappa, showing the structure, Boerio’s numerous interventions, and its relationship with the 1829 edition of the Dizionario are described.