Accademia della Crusca

Accademia della Crusca
AbbreviationLa Crusca
Formation1583 (1583)
HeadquartersFlorence, Italy
Official language
Italian
President
Paolo D'Achille
Websiteaccademiadellacrusca.it

The Accademia della Crusca (Italian: [akkaˈdɛːmja della ˈkruska]; lit.'Academy of the Bran'), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language,[1] as well as the oldest linguistic academy in the world.[2]

The Accademia was founded in Florence in 1583, and has since been characterized by its efforts to maintain the purity of the Italian language.[3] Crusca, which means "bran" in Italian, helps convey the metaphor that its work is similar to winnowing, as also does its emblem depicting a sifter for straining out corrupt words and structures (as bran is separated from wheat). The academy motto is "Il più bel fior ne coglie" ('She gathers the fairest flower'), a famous line by the Italian poet Petrarch. In 1612, the Accademia published the first edition of its dictionary, the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca,[4] which has served as the model for similar works in French, Spanish, German and English.[1]

The academy is a member of the European Federation of National Linguistic Institutes.[5]

  1. ^ a b "The Accademia". Archived from the original on 16 May 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  2. ^ Informazioni sulle origini Archived 16 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine from La Crusca website.
  3. ^ "The reopening of the Accademia (1811) and the fifth edition of the Vocabolario (1863–1923)". Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  4. ^ "The first edition of the Vocabolario (1612)". Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Partner List". Retrieved 4 August 2015.