Academia della Crusca
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The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
. It is one of the most important research institutions of the
Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...
, as well as the oldest linguistic academy in the world. The ''Accademia'' was founded in Florence in 1583, and has since been characterized by its efforts to maintain the purity of the
Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...
. ', which means "bran" in Italian, helps convey the metaphor that its work is similar to winnowing, as also does its emblem depicting a
sifter A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. T ...
for straining out corrupt words and structures (as bran is separated from wheat). The academy motto is ''"Il più bel fior ne coglie"'' ('She gathers the fairest flower'), a famous line by the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. In 1612, the ''Accademia'' published the first edition of its dictionary, the ''
Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca The ''Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca'' was the first dictionary of the Italian language, published in 1612 by the Accademia della Crusca. It was also only the second dictionary of a modern European language, being just one year later ...
'', which has served as the model for similar works in French, Spanish, German and English. The academy is a member of the European Federation of National Linguistic Institutes.


History


Origins

The founders were originally called the and constituted a circle composed of poets, men of letters, and lawyers. The members usually assembled on pleasant and convivial occasions, during which —discourses in a merry and playful style, which have neither a beginning nor an end—were recited. The Crusconi used humour, satire, and irony to distance itself from the pedantry of the Accademia Fiorentina, protected by Grand Duke
Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...
, and to contrast itself with the severe and classic style of that body. This battle was fought without compromising the primary intention of the group, which was typically literary, and expounded in high-quality literary disputes. The founders of the Accademia della Crusca are traditionally identified as Giovanni Battista Deti ('Sollo'), Antonio Francesco Grazzini ('Lasca'), Bernardo Canigiani ('Gramolato'), Bernardo Zanchini ('Macerato'), Bastiano de' Rossi ('Inferigno'); they were joined in October 1582 by
Lionardo Salviati Lionardo Salviati (1539–1589) was a leading Italian philologist of the sixteenth century. He came from an illustrious Florentine family closely linked with the Medici. Salviati became consul of the Florentine Academy in 1566, and played a key r ...
('Infarinato') (1540–1589). Under his leadership, at the beginning of 1583, the Accademia took on a new form, directing itself to demonstrate and to conserve the beauty of the Florentine vulgar tongue, modelled upon the authors of the Trecento.


Monosini and the first Vocabolario

One of the earliest scholars to influence the work of the Crusca was
Agnolo Monosini Agnolo Monosini (Pratovecchio 1568 – Florence 1626) was an Italians, Italian scholar and cleric of the 16th and 17th centuries, who played a key role in the development of the Italian language two hundred years prior to the risorgimento. He was ...
. He contributed greatly to the 1612 edition of ''
Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca The ''Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca'' was the first dictionary of the Italian language, published in 1612 by the Accademia della Crusca. It was also only the second dictionary of a modern European language, being just one year later ...
'', especially with regard to the influence of Greek, which, he maintained, made a significant contribution to the Fiorentine idiom of the period. The Accademia thus abandoned the jocular character of its earlier meetings in order to take up the normative role it would assume from then on. The very title of the Accademia came to be interpreted in a new way: the academicians of the Crusca would now work to distinguish the good and pure part of the language (the ''farina'', or whole wheat) from the bad and impure part (the ''crusca'', or bran). From this is derived the symbolism of the Crusca: its logo shows a ''frullone'' or sifter with the Petrarchan motto ''Il più bel fior ne coglie'' (She gathers the fairest flower). The members of the Accademia were given nicknames associated with corn and flour, and seats in the form of breadbaskets with backs in the shape of bread shovel were used for their meetings. In 1636,
Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
created the
Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
on the model of the Accademia della Crusca.


Beccaria and Verri opposition

The
linguistic purism Linguistic purism or linguistic protectionism is the prescriptive practice of defining or recognizing one variety of a language as being purer or of intrinsically higher quality than other varieties. Linguistic purism was institutionalized th ...
of the Accademia found opposition in
Cesare Beccaria Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio (; 15 March 173828 November 1794) was an Italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher, economist and politician, who is widely considered one of the greatest thinkers of the Age ...
and the Verri brothers (
Pietro Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II Can ...
and
Alessandro Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricco ...
), who through their journal ''
Il Caffè ''Il Caffè'' (Italian: ''The Coffeehouse'') was an Italian magazine which was published in Milan between 1764 and 1766. It was the most significant publication of the Enlightenment period in the country. History and profile ''Il Caffè'' was ...
'' systematically attacked the Accademia's archaisms as pedantic, denouncing the Accademia while invoking for contrast no less than the likes of Galileo and Newton and even modern intellectual cosmopolitanism itself. However, since
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
published his scientific works in his native Florentine Italian, as opposed to the Latin which was customary for academic works of the time, it has also been argued that he implicitly supported the Accademia's purpose.


Baroque period

The Accademia's activities carried on with both high and low points until 1783, when Pietro Leopoldo quit and, with several other academicians, created the second Accademia Fiorentina. In 1808, however, the third Accademia Fiorentina was founded and, by a decree of 19 January 1811, signed by
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, the Crusca was re-established with its own status of autonomy, statutes and previous aims. In the 20th century, the decree of 11 March 1923 changed its composition and its purpose. The compilation of the ''Vocabolario'', hitherto the duty of the Crusca, was removed from it and passed to a private society of scholars; the Crusca was entrusted with the compilation of philological texts. In 1955, however,
Bruno Migliorini Bruno Migliorini (; 19 November 1896 – 18 June 1975) was an Italian linguist and philologist. He was the author of one of the first scientific histories of Italian language and was president of the Accademia della Crusca. Biography Migliorin ...
and others began discussion of the return of the work of preparing the '' Vocabolario'' to the Crusca.


In recent years

In 2007, the website E-leo compiling 3,000 drawings and writings of
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
was launched, with the linguistic help of the Accademia della Crusca to decipher some of the inventor's scribblings. In August 2011, the existence of the Accademia was threatened when
Giulio Tremonti Giulio Tremonti () (born 18 August 1947) is an Italian politician. He served in the government of Italy as Minister of Economy and Finance under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from 1994 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, from 2005 to 2006, and from 20 ...
and
Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
introduced a proposition to eradicate all public-funded entities with less than 70 members. In August 2015, the Accademia's website was defaced by a hacker linked to ISIS. In February 2016, the Accademia approved the submission of an 8-year old for a new Italian word, ''Petaloso'' (full of petals).


Composition


Members

Members include: *
Nicoletta Maraschio Nicoletta Maraschio is an academic teacher of "History of Italian Language" at University of Florence. She was the first woman in charge of Accademia della Crusca, from 2008 to 2014, succeeding Francesco Sabatini. Biography Born in Pavia in 1946, ...
(emerita), honorary president, Florence *
Lorenzo Renzi Lorenzo Renzi (Vicenza, 1939), Italian linguist and philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with espe ...
(emeritus), Padua *
Luca Serianni Luca Serianni (; 30 October 1947 – 21 July 2022) was an Italian linguist and philologist. Biography Serianni was professor of Italian language at Sapienza Università di Roma. A student of Arrigo Castellani, he conducted research about Itali ...
(emeritus), Rome *
Martin Maiden Martin Maiden (born Southampton, UK, 20 May 1957) is Statutory Professor of the Romance Languages at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton, and then at Trinity Hal ...
, Oxford


References


Further reading

* Yates, Frances A. "The Italian Academies", in: ''Collected Essays; vol. II: Renaissance and Reform; the Italian Contribution'', London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983 * Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. ''Early Modern Europe, 1450–1789''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006


External links

*
The search for Some Historical References of Academy

Dictionary of Academy of Bran
the online version of editions 1612 through 1923
Academy of Bran and Some Historical References


From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Accademia Della Crusca Language regulators Italian language Cultural institutions of Tuscany 1583 establishments in Italy Learned societies of Italy Florence