FORCELLINI, EGIDIO. — An erudite priest, b. at Campo sul Piave on 26 August 1688, d. there on 5 April 1768. He studied at the Seminary of Padua and FACOLTÀ (v.).
In collaboration with his teacher, he revised Jacopo Sartori’s Calepinus septem linguarum, published at Padua in 1708, preparing no fewer than eight editions of it between 1718 and 1758; with the same teacher he compiled the Oriografia italiana (Padua 1718), and, following his inspiration, composed the monumental Lexicon totius latinitatis, which the disciple modestly attributed to Facciolati, but which was in fact entirely his own work.
The Lexicon, which completely supplanted the Thesaurus of Roberto Stefano (v. ESTIENNE), is a work that remains fully alive even today: remarkable in size, rich in erudition, and brilliant in conception and development. In 1724 F. was appointed prefect of studies at the Seminary of Coneda, and interrupted his work on it for seven years. But, having returned to Padua in 1731, he resumed it and brought it to completion. The work, however, was published posthumously at Padua in 1771, with a preface by Gaetano Cognolato (1728–1802). The 2nd edition appeared in 1805; in 1816 an Appendix by Giuseppe Furlanetto (1775–1850), another pupil of the Seminary of Padua, was published; the latter himself prepared a 3rd ed., which appeared between 1827 and 1831 (the Appendix was reprinted in 1841). Between 1839 and 1845 a new reprint appeared at Prato, and a few years later, in the same city, Vincenzo De Vit (1811–92) prepared a new enlarged edition, in 6 vols. (1858–79), in which patristic lexicography was also given prominence and the onomastic entries were considerably developed. Even before its publication had been completed, another edition appeared at Padua, in
(Int. Geb. Int. 1883)
FORCELLINI, EGIDIO — Portrait (18th century). Padua, Seminary.
4 vols. (1864–98), plus two of Onomasticus (1913–20), edited by Francesco Corradini (1820–88) for the first 3 vols., and by Giuseppe Perin (1855–1925) for the others. A facsimile reproduction of this latter edition was published in Padua in 1940.