1. This is a long term project, non subsidized and non scheduled. The dictionary, also called by the author Folhas para um Dicionário (Leaves for a dictionary), has the form of an archive of more than 23.000 cards, mostly autograph, but in part handwritten by students and helpers of Dr. Leite and revised by him. A small amount has been typed.
It is part of Leite’s archive, now at the Centro de Tradições Populares Portuguesas, at Lisbon Faculty of Letters, where Leite’s philological library is also kept. There is an agreement between CTPP and CLUL regarding this project.
In fact, my involvement with this project predates by far such an agreement. As a student, I started in 1965 to gather the cards, still kept in boxes, and to file them by alphabetical order in the metal shelves where they are now. This was done under the supervision of Dr Viegas Guerreiro, professor of Ethnography at FLUL and the last surviving student of Leite de Vasconcelos. Later, I started the task of transcribing the dictionary with the help of students; there is more work to do, but the time seems right to make available what has been done so far, albeit in a partially unrevised and incomplete form.
2. The dictionary itself is not a fully developed and perfected opus. Its other title, Leaves for a dictionary, does more justice to its incipient nature. Many entries consist of a mere quotation or bibliographical reference, to be looked up later, as some in fact did. This is typical of Leite’s way of hurrying through many different subjects at the same time: wandering scholars accept whatever comes their way.
3. Although its existence has been always known [see J. Leite de Vasconcellos, “Apontamentos lexicais (Ideias para um dicionário; Pecúlio vocabular)”, Opúsculos, vol. I, Coimbra, 1928; Gaspar Machado “Os inéditos do Dr. Leite de Vasconcelos”, Revista de Portugal, série A: Língua portuguesa, vol. XXIII, [1959]; Paulo Caratão Soromenho, “O Dicionário Inédito de Leite de Vasconcelos”, Revista de Portugal, série A: Língua portuguesa, vol. XXVII, 1962]
the dictionary has so far not been totally published. I made a private impression of three volumes (letter A, 1988, letters B and C, 2002) and Paula Estrela Mendes presented in her MA dissertation, 2001, an edition of letter P.
[further reading: Ivo Castro, “Os estudos de Lexicografia em Lisboa”, Verba, anexo 29, 1988; Paula Estrêla Lopes Mendes, “O dicionário inédito de José Leite de Vasconcellos Folhas para um Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa”, Actas do XII Enc. Nac. da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, vol. II, Lisboa, 1997; Ivo Castro e Paula Estrêla Lopes Mendes, “O Dicionário de Regionalismos e Arcaísmos (DRA), de Leite de Vasconcellos”, Revista Lusitana, n.s., 16, 1997]
4. The dictionary has been photographed twice: first in 1998-2000, but the poor quality of this reproduction induced a new digital photography done by Mário Costa in 2009-2010. This is an asset of CLUL collections.
5. About two thirds of the Dictionary have so far been transcribed (2010: letters A-L, +P) and are now for the first time available on-line. No printed edition will be considered before transcription of the last entry is achieved.
6. Typically, when they are not mere references for further research, entries consist of lexicographical notes, detailing words or expressions from the Old Portuguese or from some dialects, which came to Leite’s notice during his readings or his travels. The rarity of those items seems to be the main reason for their selection, together with their ethnographical interest (sometimes, Leite illustrates the entry with drawings). Some entries are rich in linguistic detail (type A), while others just note down a form and its source (type B).
type A:
canhamo
Vem do hesp. O hesp. cañano vem, segundo Baist, Zs. XXVIII, 108, de calamu- + canna. Eu propus calamus + cannabis, o que é melhor por causa do sentido de cannabis ‘cañano’; pois d’onde havia de vir para canhamo de calamus + canna o sentido que tem? Que cannabis existiu na Iberia, vê-se: 1) do onomastico, Canaveses, Canaveira etc.; 2) de alcáneve na Aulegrafia fol. 78 v (II, 10) “linho alcáneve” < cannabis; 3) canavoeira. Vid. D. Carolina. RL, XIII, 288. Art. meu na RL, VII, 68.
type B:
canicalho
duplo deminutivo de cão. Alentejo. RL II, 32.
7. Entries seldom are fully composed, none prepared for publication. Several cards, written at different moments, may relate to the same entry, even repeating data. Our edition treats this in two steps: first a diplomatic transcription of each card, simply put together under the same head:
palrar
[1] (‘Falar alto’). Sec XV, Rev. Arch., I. 142.
[2] Trancoso. RL, V, 173.
Then, a full edition, assembling the various card in one harmonized redaction, with elimination of repetitions, references followed and quotations transcribed:
palrar
‘Falar alto’. {«e que rezem todos iuntos e nom cada huum per ssy apartado e bem apontado ssem nenhuum delles palrrar nem fazer ieyto nem esguar que ffaça aos outros toruaçam»}, sec. XV, Rev. Arch. I, 142. {De lat. parabolare, *parolare, parolar > parlar > palrar.} Trancoso, RL V, 173.
In the present form, this full treatment is not always present. You will find that some sections have been more carefully revised and edited than others; editorial conventions vary, some difficult readings remain unsolved, imperfections abound. This is the result of a work done by many hands during a long stretch of time.
8. Statistics:
The DRA archive has about 13.300 cards:
(5.11. 2010)