(Santa Cirga, Manacor 1862 - Palma, 1932)

 
Beginning his seminary studies in Palma at the age of 15, Antoni Maria Alcover i Sureda went on to work as a linguist, folklorist and publicist. In his first years as a presbyter, he was an intransigent polemicist, and it was in this time that he discovered his literary vocation. He also discovered the richness of literature and popular language, which he exemplified under the pseudonym of Jordi d'es Racó (Contarelles, 1885; Aplec de Rondaies Mallorquines, 24 volumes from 1896). In 1898 he was appointed Vicar General (until 1916).
 
The first meetings related to the Diccionari were held in 1900 at the Bishop’s Palace, where he read the Lletra de convit, a public invitation to collaborate on a comprehensive dictionary of the language. This idea was very well received and many clerics from Majorca offered their collaboration and later took part in the congress. The implications of the project went far beyond the scope of the island, and together with the need for a means to communicate with collaborators, brought about the preparation of the Bolletí del Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana (1901-36).
Alcover made countless trips to the Catalan Countries, where he carried out his lexicographic studies. The First International Congress of the Catalan Language was held in October 1906, in which 3,000 congressmen were registered to attend and most Romance language scholars of the time took part in. Alcover then decided to start studying linguistics – travelling to Germany, France, England, Switzerland and Belgium – and dialectological studies. He published Una mica de dialectologia catalana in the "Bolletí" (1908-09), and Qüestions de llengua i literatura catalana (1901-02), which came as a blow to Morel-Fatio, Saroïhandy and Menéndez Pidal, respectively. He was appointed president of the new Philological Department of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (1911), but left soon after due to ill treatment. This split proved very damaging to his work and saw him lose much of the financial support he was receiving for his dictionary. However, he was awarded a State grant from 1920 onwards which allowed him to speed up the development of the dictionary. Once this grant ran out, Alcover contracted debt. Because of his split from the Institut, he reverted to pre-1913 orthography, which he used in his publications. In 1926 he patched things up with Pompeu Fabra, and in 1928 he began experiencing health problems, which forced him to reduce his speed of work.
 
The Diccionari Català-valencià-balear amounted to 10 volumes. It was written by Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, with the collaboration of Manuel Sanchis Guarner and Aina Moll Marquès, and the original sub-heading was: Itinerari lexical i etimològic de la llengua que parlen Catalunya espanyola i Catalunya francesa, el Regne de València, les Illes Balears i la ciutat d'Alguer de Sardenya, en totes ses formes literàries i dialectals, antigues i modernes. It included words used in literary and colloquial language from all times and places, bringing together some 160,000 words. It was prepared through systematic surveys and the evaluation of documentation. It includes documented testimonies for each entry by age order, indicating the pronunciation and meanings in the regions or towns where they come from; it suggests the etymology, includes proverbs, phrases, set phrases, customs, folklore, and their equivalent in the Castilian language. The final drafting of the Diccionari began in 1924, and the first volume was out between 1926 and 1932. Moll took over the dictionary after Alcover’s death, and in 1935 the second volume was published with the original orthography (from the letter “c”). The remaining volumes were published from 1950 to 1962.-68).

 
Fundació Pública Antoni Maria Alcover
Dialnet: A.M. Alcover