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History of the Text
According to tradition, and in André Morellet's words, the Academy dictionary was intended to define the correct, common usage of words in non-technical French: "[...] Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie est un témoin de l'usage qui gouverne la langue française, de celui qui est le plus général parmi les personnes qui parlent correctement et purement." But the violent political upheaval of the Revolution troubled this vision of the Dictionary's function, and it quickly assumed great political significance. In debates at the time, political thinkers attributed great importance to the role of words in the formation of political thought; the language of the monarchy was thus suspect. In many cases, there was a desire for linguistic reform and purification that would second the political transformation of the nation. Rather than completely rewriting the Academy dictionary, however, it was finally concluded that the strong influence of the "esprit philosophique" among the Academicians during the second half of the century had led to considerable progress. The 5th edition came to be viewed as a transitional document between the language of the Old Regime and the new Republic. As Dominique Joseph Garat states in the "Discours préliminaire", "[...] Il a été fini à l'instant où la Monarchie finissoit elle-même; et [...] par cela seul, il sera pour tous les Peuples et pour tous les Siècles la ligne ineffaçable qui tracera et constatera, dans la même Langue, les limites de la Langue Monarchique et de la Langue Républicaine" (p. x).
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