Antônio Houaiss ( or ; October 15, 1915 – March 7, 1999) was a Brazilian lexicographer, diplomat, writer and translator.

Early life

The son of Lebanese immigrants, he was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

.(2012)
Houaiss, Antonio
. Itaú Cultural Encyclopedia Online, last updated 24/feb/2012.Vasco Mariz (1995), "Antônio Houaiss: uma vida." Ed. Civilização Brasileira

Career

Houaiss began his career in Rio de Janeiro as a professor of the

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...

, of which he eventually became a recognized authority. He left teaching in 1945 for the

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

and served the Brazilian government as such until the 1964 military coup, when he was forced to retire with loss of political rights. During that period he was Brazilian vice-

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

and representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(1947 to 1949); third secretary of the Brazilian Embassy in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

(1949 to 1951) and in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

(1951 to 1953); member of the permanent Brazilian delegation to the United Nations in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(1960 to 1964).
Antônio Houaiss - Biografia
Website of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, accessed on 2012-12-28. After leaving the diplomatic career he worked briefly as editor of the Brazilian newspaper

Correio da Manhã ''Correio da Manhã'' () is a Portuguese daily newspaper from Portugal. Published in Lisbon, it is the most circulated daily newspaper in Portugal. History and profile ''Correio da Manhã'' was established in 1979. The paper is based in Lisbon. ...

(1964 to 1965). He joined the

Brazilian Academy of Philology Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may als ...

in 1960 and was elected a fellow of the exclusive

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its found ...

in 1971, which he presided in 1996. He was the chief editor of the Brazilian encyclopedia Mirador. In 1990 he received the Moinho Santista Award. For 11 months, in 1992 and 1993, he served as the Minister of Culture under President

Itamar Franco Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco (; 28 June 19302 July 2011) was a Brazilian politician who served as the 33rd president of Brazil from 29 December 1992 to 31 December 1994. Previously, he was the 21st vice president of Brazil from 1990 until the ...

. He was also one of the chief proponents of the international unification for the orthography of Portuguese, a project that he had joined in 1985, and led to the 1990 spelling reform treaty, which he too did not live to see implemented.Folha da Manhã (2009)
Maior ideólogo da reforma ortográfica, Houaiss morreu sem ver resultado da obra
(Obituary). Folha Online, 2009-03-07.

Published works

He is the author of several books and many essays, commentaries and articles on linguistics and other subjects. He is best known for his translation of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'',Antônio Houaiss (1966) "Ulisses" (Portuguese translation of James Joyce's ''Ulysses'', 1922). Editora Civilização Brasileira, 960 pages. . and for supervising with Mauro de Salles Villar the creation of the

Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa The ''Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa'' (''Houaiss Dictionary of the Portuguese Language'') is a major reference dictionary for the Portuguese language, edited by Brazilian writer Antônio Houaiss. The dictionary was composed by a team ...

,Antônio Houaiss and Mauro Villar (2001),
Grande Dicionário Houaiss Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa
". 3008 pages, Editora Objetiva,Grande Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa
Description and history of the book in the Editora Objetiva website. Accessed on 2012-12-18. one of the major reference dictionaries for the

. The dictionary, which he started compiling in 1985, was completed and published (with more than 220,000 entries) only after his death, in 2001. The

Antônio Houaiss Institute Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

was created in 1997 to continue that work.Instituto António Houaiss
site. Accessed on 2012-12-27.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houaiss, Antonio 1915 births 1999 deaths Brazilian people of Lebanese descent Brazilian lexicographers Brazilian translators Hoauiss, Antonio Translators to Portuguese English–Portuguese translators 20th-century translators Ministers of Culture of Brazil 20th-century Brazilian male writers 20th-century Brazilian writers 20th-century lexicographers