Greg Lindahl's home page links (under "Publishing") to a series of Renaissance books he's hosting, including a couple of dictionaries, Cotgrave's A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (and its associated proverbs) and Florio's Italian/English Dictionary, both from 1611; there are also books on fencing, dancing, music, and needlework, among others. In case you were wondering, Lindahl's motivation has to do with the Society for Creative Anachronism, whose adherents go to a great deal of trouble to achieve authenticity. (Via misteraitch's MetaFilter post.)
Posted by languagehat at September 16, 2004 03:12 PMFlorio's Dictionary gives an interesting description of how English was spoken in 1611. He states that:
The 'e' in the Italian 'vedere' [e] must be pronounced "as the English E or Ea as in Bell, Den, Deane, Fell, Flea, Meade, Quell, Sell, Tell".
The 'e' in the Italian 'bello' [ɛ] "as the Ai in English, as in these words Baile, Baine, Daine, Faile, Flaile, Maide, Quaile, Saile, Taile"
The 'o' in the verbal form 'rosa' [o] "as the English single U in these wordes, Bun, Dug, Flud, Gud, Rud, Stun, Tun".
The 'o' in the noun 'rosa' [ɔ] "as our O in these wordes, Bone, Dog, Flow, God, Rod, Stone, Tone".
Posted by: Stefano Taschini at September 16, 2004 04:37 PMGallica, a digital project of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, also has many interesting centuries-old dictionaries online.
Posted by: Grant Barrett at September 16, 2004 04:55 PMSorry, the URL disappeared at preview: Gallica.
Posted by: Grant Barrett at September 16, 2004 04:56 PMI see that one of the works was taken directly from BNF. What are the legalities of that?
Posted by: Grant Barrett at September 16, 2004 04:59 PMThis unrelated, but perhaps of interest, if you haven't heard already.
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/nuggets/028/nugget.htm
Posted by: Matt at September 16, 2004 05:14 PM..concerning the new language invented by Nicaraguan children)
Posted by: Matt at September 16, 2004 05:15 PM