Historical dictionaries

The panorama of “historical” and modern dictionaries is quite vast, available for those who want to learn more about the lexical richness of the Sardinian language. On the one hand, we have the production in some way “historic”, on the other the works released in the late twentieth century (and even more recently), still being examined by scholars to establish the goodness of the method and the reliability of the contents.
Matteo Madao is considered among the first, if not the first, lexicographers of the Sardinian language for having published two volumes in the eighteenth century: one with Sardinian words derived from Greek and the other with those derived from Latin.
In the 19th century, Vincenzo Porru certainly stood out with his “Nou dictionariu Sardu Italianu”, dated 1832-34. This is followed by Giovanni Spano's fundamental “Sardinian-Italian and Italian-Sardinian vocabulary” (1851-52). The canon of Ploaghe, compared to Porru, perhaps has the merit of having investigated Sardinian at 360 degrees, dealing with all the variants, not just his own.
The entire work helps to understand the historical and cultural dignity of the Sardinian language, a recognition that already seemed appropriate then, when, with the unification of Italy, Sardinia presented itself to participate in a great historical moment. Also of great importance is the DES, “Sardinian Etymological Dictionary”, compiled by Max Leopold Wagner over long years of research in the field of Sardinia.
From the twentieth century to the present day, various repertoires, dictionaries, vocabularies and lexicographic treatises have been published that have contributed to the knowledge of the Sardinian language and its variants.

Update

11/7/2025 - 12:03