author
Emile Littré
1801–1881
Best known for the monumental French dictionary that still bears his name, he brought unusual range to his work as a scholar, translator, and philosopher. His writing helped shape both the study of language and the spread of positivist thought in 19th-century France.
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About the author
Born in Paris on February 1, 1801, Émile Littré became one of France’s great lexicographers and language scholars. He studied widely, worked as a translator and journalist, and built a reputation for deep learning across medicine, classical literature, history, and philosophy.
His most famous achievement was the Dictionnaire de la langue française, published in the 1860s and early 1870s. Often simply called Le Littré, it became a landmark reference work, admired for the way it combined definitions with history, usage, and literary evidence.
Littré was also known as an interpreter of Auguste Comte and a major voice for positivist philosophy, though his relationship with Comte’s ideas was not without differences. He was elected to important learned societies, including the Académie française, and died in Paris on June 2, 1881, leaving behind a name that remains closely linked with the French language itself.