Noël François de Wailly (31 July 1724 – 7 April 1801) was a French

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

and lexicographer.

Life

He was born at

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

. He was student of Joseph Valart and Philippe de Prétot. Noël François de Wailly spent his life in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where for many years he carried on a school which was extensively patronized by foreigners who wished to learn

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. In 1754 he published ''Principes généraux de la langue française'', which revolutionized the teaching of

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

in France. The book was adopted as a textbook by the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

and generally used throughout France, an abstract of it being prepared for primary educational purposes. In 1771, de Wailly published ''Moyens simples et raisonnés de diminuer les imperfections de notre orthographe'', in which he advocated

phonetic spelling A phonemic orthography is an orthography (system for writing a language) in which the graphemes (written symbols) correspond to the phonemes (significant spoken sounds) of the language. Natural languages rarely have perfectly phonemic orthographi ...

. He was a member of the Institute from its foundation (1795), and took an active part in the preparation of the '' Dictionnaire de l'Académie''. His works, in addition to those cited, include ''L'Orthographe des dames'' (1782) and ''Le Nouveau Vocabulaire français, ou abrégé du dictionnaire de l'Académie'' (1801). He was the brother of architect Charles De Wailly and the grandfather of archivist and librarian

Natalis de Wailly Natalis de Wailly (10 May 1805, Mézières, Ardennes – 4 December 1886, Paris) was a French archivist, librarian and historian. In 1841, as head of the Administrative Section of the Royal Archives, he wrote a ministerial circular, issued by C ...

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wailly, Noel Francois de People from Amiens 1724 births 1801 deaths French lexicographers Grammarians from France 18th-century lexicographers