The Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa is a dictionary for the Portuguese language, which was compiled by the Brazilian lexicographer Antônio Houaiss. Conceived as a lusophone reference work, it aims to provide the most complete record of Portuguese vocabulary worldwide and is regarded as one of the most ambitious lexicographical projects undertaken in the language.

History

The project was conceived in 1985 by Brazilian philologist, diplomat, and lexicographer Antônio Houaiss, who aimed to produce the most comprehensive dictionary of the Portuguese language. The initiative envisioned a "General Dictionary of the Portuguese Language" that would document vocabulary used across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Work advanced for eight years until 1992, when it was suspended due to financial difficulties. The project resumed in 1995 through a partnership between the and the publisher , with the support of the institute's director Francisco Melo Franco and chief lexicographer Mauro Villar. A large editorial team was assembled, consisting of about 140

Houaiss died on 7 March 1999, with estimates suggesting it contained 93 percent more information than its closest competitor. In addition to linguistic material, the work was encyclopedic, covering scientific, artistic, and humanistic topics, as well as biographical entries.

The electronic version, known as the Dicionário Eletrônico Houaiss (DEH), was released in the early 2000s and became widely used. It introduced hypertext navigation and offered multiple modes of consultation, including traditional, express, and interactive views. An online edition was launched on the Brazilian web portal Universo Online in August 2004, granting subscribers access to the full content of the dictionary. A condensed edition of about 146,000 entries was issued in 2009, adapted to reflect the changes introduced by the Orthographic Agreement of 1990.

Reception

On its release, it was immediately recognized as a milestone in Portuguese lexicography for its breadth and international orientation. The Brazilian newspaper Estadão emphasized the dictionary's unprecedented scope, describing it as "a release to create a new concept" and highlighting the "breadth and precision of each entry". However, its reviewer also noted the sacrifices that came with these innovations, pointing out that it "does not present literary quotations, that is, examples of the use of words by writers, as its competitors still do".

As a result of the action taken by the Public Prosecution Office of the State of Minas Gerais, the entry for was temporarily removed from the electronic edition of the dictionary. In the current edition of the Houaiss Dictionary, the entry has been reinstated, and the contested definitions have been retained, as has the explanation (in place since 2008) regarding the uses of the word with a derogatory connotation: "they result from an old European tradition, pejorative and xenophobic because it is based on erroneous and preconceived ideas about the characteristics of this people who, in the past, led a nomadic existence".

See also

References

  • Official website