IV.

An International Language

In the early 17th century the poet François de Malherbe, through his poetic and critical works, succeeded in establishing a standard of exactness in the use of French words. That standard shaped the language into a sophisticated instrument for the clear, concise expression of thought. One of the most important steps towards standardizing and otherwise improving the French language was the compilation, in the 17th century, of a dictionary by the Académie Française, a literary society formed in 1635 by the statesman and cardinal Richelieu. The Académie began the compilation of an official French dictionary in 1639; the first edition appeared in 1694 and was followed by seven others; the eighth appeared in 1932-1935. During the reign of Louis XIV, the French language reached the highest point of importance in its history, becoming an international language in Europe, especially for diplomats and scientists.

By the 17th century the French language had developed into what is essentially its present form. Inflectional endings inherited from Latin had been for the most part dropped, and the language depended instead on prepositional phrases and word order to indicate syntactical relationships between words. Publication of the dictionary, widespread literacy, and the extensive use of printing all contributed to the stabilization of the language. Changes occurring later in French were virtually limited to the slow modification of pronunciation and to the addition of new words. The wars with Italy in the first half of the 16th century had resulted in the introduction of about 800 words, for the most part of two types: those derived from the arts, such as fugue and opéra; and military terms, such as colonel and soldat. French wars with Spain in the early part of the 17th century enriched the French language with about 200 words, including cigare and nègre. French wars with Germany in the 17th century resulted in the introduction of a small number of words from German, such as blocus (“blockade”) and cible (“target”). A section of the newly founded (1795) Institut de France, successor of the old Académie Française, issued an edition of the dictionary in 1798; the appendix of the work included a number of words that had been coined since the outbreak of the French Revolution. Among those that survive in the French language are divorcer (“to divorce”), guillotiner (“to behead with a guillotine”), and bureaucrate (“bureaucrat”).