Gabriel Girard (churchman)
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Girard was a French churchman and grammarian, notable as the author of the first work on synonym
s published in France.
He was chaplain to the duchess of Berry and the king's secretary-interpreter in Slavonic
and Russian
. His philological works influenced Vasily Trediakovski, the pioneer of Russian language reform, who he met in Paris around 1727. He was elected to the Académie française
in 1744.
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s published in France.
He was chaplain to the duchess of Berry and the king's secretary-interpreter in Slavonic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. His philological works influenced Vasily Trediakovski, the pioneer of Russian language reform, who he met in Paris around 1727. He was elected to the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
in 1744.
Works
- L'Ortografe française sans équivoques et dans ses principes naturels, ou l'Art d'écrire notre langue selon les loix de la raison et de l'usage (1716). Online text : http://gallica.bnf.fr/Catalogue/noticesInd/FRBNF37234934.htm
- La Justesse de la langue françoise, ou les différentes significations des mots qui passent pour synonymes (1718). Online text : http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-50626
- Lettre d'un abbé à un gentilhomme de province contenant des observations sur le stile et les pensées de la nouvelle tragédie d'Œdipe, et des réflexions sur la dernière lettre de M. de VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
(1719) Online text : http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-72220 - Nouvelles remarques sur l'Œdipe de M. de VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, et sur ses lettres critiques où l'on justifie CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
et où l'on fait un parallèle des deux tragédies de ces auteurs (1719) Online text : http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-72221 - Les Vrais principes de la langue françoise, ou la Parole réduite en méthode (1747). Online text : http://gallica.bnf.fr/Catalogue/noticesInd/FRBNF37228655.htm