Alain Rey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alain Rey
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born | 30 August 1928 Pont-du-Château, France
|
| Died | 28 October 2020 (aged 92) Paris, France
|
| Nationality | French |
| Education | University of Paris |
| Occupation | Linguist |
Alain Rey (born August 30, 1928 – died October 28, 2020) was a famous French linguist and lexicographer. A linguist studies language, and a lexicographer creates dictionaries. He was also a well-known radio personality. He worked as the main editor for the famous French dictionary publisher, Dictionnaires Le Robert. His wife, Josette Rey-Debove, was also his colleague.
About Alain Rey
Alain Rey was born in Pont-du-Château, France, on August 30, 1928. He studied different subjects like political science, humanities, and art history at the Sorbonne.
In 1952, while he was in Algeria, he saw an advertisement. A man named Paul Robert was looking for linguists. Robert was creating a brand new French dictionary. Alain Rey became Robert's first helper on this big project. The dictionary was called Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique.
As Robert's team of dictionary makers grew, Rey married his colleague Josette Debove in 1954. The very first Le Robert dictionary was published in 1964. A shorter version, called Le Petit Robert, came out in 1967.
Rey then oversaw the creation of many more dictionaries for Le Robert. These included:
- The Petit Robert (1967)
- The Micro Robert, a small pocket dictionary
- The Petit Robert des noms propres (1974), which was a guide to proper names
- The Dictionnaire des expressions et locutions (1979), a dictionary of common phrases
- The Grand Robert de la langue française, a huge nine-volume set (1985)
- An updated version, the Nouveau Petit Robert de la langue française (1993)
- The Dictionnaire historique de la langue française (1992), which explained the history of words.
In 2016, a new and bigger edition of the Dictionnaire historique was published. It came out in two volumes. In 2005, he also published the Dictionnaire culturel en langue française.
Media Appearances
Beyond his work with books, Alain Rey became a famous person in French media. From 1993 to 2006, he was on a daily radio show called Sept neuf trente on France Inter. He had a short part at the end called Le mot de la fin ("The Last Word"). In this part, he would talk about French words in a fun and interesting way. His last segment on France Inter was on June 29, 2006. He talked about the word salut ("goodbye").
From 2004 to 2005, Rey also appeared on the TV channel France 2. He was on a show called Démo des Mots after the 8 o'clock news. On this show, he explained the history of French words used in finance.
In 2005, the French Minister of Culture gave him an important award. He was given the title of Commander in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Literature).
From September 2007, Rey also appeared on a Sunday morning radio show on Europe 1. Alain Rey passed away in October 2020, at the age of 92.
Internet Fame
Alain Rey became famous on the internet too! On July 14, 2017, a French YouTuber named Squeezie made a song. He worked with two popular rappers, Bigflo & Oli. For their song, they randomly picked words from a dictionary that Alain Rey had helped create. They joked about how people make dictionaries, and Alain Rey became a funny running joke.
Later, on September 29, 2017, Squeezie made another song with Bigflo & Oli. This time, they invited Alain Rey himself to help choose their words! They even picked words for him to rap in the song.
See also
In Spanish: Alain Rey para niños
