Essai sur les aberrations des étymologistes.
[1863 circa].
In-4 (270 x 220 mm), (1) f., 185 pp, (2) ff, paperback; cover slightly missing.
Unpublished manuscript of a treatise on etymology, including an etymological dictionary, composed shortly after the publication of the first volume of Littré.
This manuscript is by Edouard Kurzweil, assistant professor at the Ecole Impériale Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, author in 1862 of Traité de la prosodie de la langue italienne, based on the etymological analysis of words.
In the foreword, he states that the idea of an etymological dictionary, intended to "fill a major gap in lexicography", was a youthful project. Now in the prime of his life, he wanted to publish this opuscule as an encouragement to young linguists who could take up and improve on his work.
The volume opens with a lengthy introduction (44 pp.) in which Kurzweil critically presents the state of the art of French etymology (citing Abbé Ménage, Charles Nodier, de Chavallet, the Académie française dictionary, etc.), then comments on advanced principles of etymology.
The volume continues with the Essai sur les aberrations des étymologistes (115 pp.), an etymological dictionary resulting from the author's personal research, offering lengthy developments on the etymology of 30 French words, 12 German words, 7 other French words, and 3 city names.
The volume continues with an appendix of further advanced etymological considerations.
This manuscript was a gift from the author to the Marquis de La Ferté Sénectère.
An interesting unpublished manuscript which we have been unable to determine whether it is erudition, literary folly, or a bit of both.
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