Nov. 28 – The first “Italian-Dutch Dictionary 1672-2014” is here! The book is the precious fruit of the research by scholar Vincenzo Lo Cascio – Italian professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Amsterdam – on Italiaansche Spraakkonst: the first Italian grammar in Dutch, published in 1672 and discovered by him in 1967. The work was presented yesterday at the Aula Magna of the University of Amsterdam. The Italian Embassy in The Hague organized the event in collaboration with the same university. The dictionary – for most written in two languages – was presented (in the presence of many experts) by Tullio De Mauro: “The origins of the first Italian grammar in the Dutch language, from which Lo Cascio drew the dictionary, is a real mystery; it holds about 7000 words of seventeenth century Italian, and a little less than 6000 Dutch words. But languages don’t always have correspondents in other idioms. Lo Cascio has the merit of having confirmed what Descartes said, which is that you need to doubt of everything, except the meaning of words.” “The first Italian-Dutch dictionary 1672-2014”, sponsored by the Italian Embassy in The Hague, edited and compiled by Lo Cascio in collaboration with Dr. Elisabeth Nijpels was enthusiastically welcomed by Ambassador Francesco Azzarello: “We are very much satisfied – said Azzarello – for the publication of this work, the result of a lifetime of research by Professor Lo Cascio. We decided to donate to both countries the volume, a reflection on the vitality of cultural relations between Italy and the Netherlands at a time when almost all intellectuals spoke Italian, then second language of culture after Latin.” (Gil)
