Reference Sources
in the Library:
The following is a select list of guides, companions, dictionaries,
encyclopedias and other reference sources. All items listed
here can be found on the Main floor of the R.P. Bell Library.
Language
Literature
Reference Sources
French Language Dictionaries & Glossaries
Unilingual:
Dictionnaire de la langue française (Le Grand
Robert). 9 vols. PC 2625 .R63 REF
This is the most important French unilingual dictionary with full etymologies
and corresponding examples from French literature.
Le Petit Robert / Le Nouveau Petit Robert.
PC 2625 .R56 REF (Online version available on campus via
“All Programs”)
An abbreviated version of the Grand Robert, but more frequently updated.
Dictionnaire culturel en langue française.
4 vols. PC 2625 .D445 2005 REF
Not just definitions, but also has short articles on ideas surrounding key terms in art, literature, religion, etc.
Multidictionnaire de la langue française.
PC 2625 .V54 2003 REF
Provides usage notes with most definitions (e.g. how to conjugate, Quebecois terms, spelling, syntax, pronunciation, etc.)
Bilingual:
Collins Robert dictionnaire français-anglais,
anglais-français. PC 2640 .G735 REF (Online version available on campus via "All Programs". Limit of 10 simultaneous users. Please lot out when done.
Le grand dictionnaire Hachette-Oxford: français-anglais,
anglais-français. PC 2640 .O94 2001 REF (CD-ROM version
available on campus via “Academic Programs” as part of “Oxford
SuperLex”)
Harrap's Unabridged Dictionnaire Anglais-Français, Français-Anglais. 2 vols. PC 2640 .H29 2001 REF
TERMIUM and TERMIUM Plus: The Electronic
Trilingual Dictionary and Linguistic Database of the Government of Canada
Translation Bureau.
Coverage: French, English and Spanish terms, with definitions and documentation.
Anglicisms and Faux Amis:
Le Colpron: Le dictionnaire des anglicismes. PC 3608 .C583
REF
Faux Amis and Key Words. PC 2640 .T5 REF
Geographic Focus:
Dictionnaire du français acadien.
PC 3643 .C67 1999 REF
Dictionnaire historique du français québécois.
PC 3643 .D53 REF
Provides etymologies with historical literary examples. Includes some
Acadian terms.
Dictionnaire québécois français.
PC 3643 .M45 1999 REF
Dictionnaire universel francophone. PC 2625
.D54 1997 REF
Has French terms and usage from all francophone countries in the world.
Le glossaire acadien. PC 3645 .M37 P6 1995a
REF
By Pascal Poirier, Centre d’études acadiennes, U. de Moncton.
Gestures:
Dictionnaire des gestes.
P 117 .C373 2005 REF
Chapters are organized by the body parts used.
Historical Focus:
Dictionnaire historique de la langue française.
2 vols. PC 2625 .D5 REF
Covers 842 to the 1990's.
Dictionnaire de la langue française du XVIe
siècle. 7 vols. PC 2650 .H7 REF
Dictionnaire du français classique.
PC 2650 .D83 REF
17th century French.
Idioms and Expressions:
2001 French & English Idioms/2001 idiotismes français et anglais.
PC 2460 .S53 REF
Dictionnaire des locutions idiomatiques françaises.
PC 2460 .L34 REF
Sur le bout de la langue: 3000 expressions françaises
et anglaises. PC 2460 .C68 REF
Illustrated:
5 Languages Visual Dictionary. P
361 .A15 REF
Bilingual Visual Dictionary. PC
2640 .B55 REF
Dictionnaire thématique visuel. PC
2625 .D525 REF
Slang and Colloquial Language:
Argot et français populaire.
PC 3741 .C64 REF
Dictionnaire bilingue de l’argot d’aujourd’hui.
PC 3741 .B78 REF
Street French Slang Dictionary and Thesaurus.
PC 3741 .B86 REF
Specific Subject Focus:
Government of Canada Translation Bureau Glossaries.
CA1 SS5.50... Government Documents (Basement). Dozens of glossaries on specific topics (pre 1996). More recent editions on the Translation Bureau web
site covering topics such as women and development, Internet, e-commerce,
geotextiles, etc.
Specific Style:
Le français au bureau. PC 2120 .C6
G9 REF
Québec. Office de la langue française.
French Correspondence. PC 2483 .F74 REF
Media French. PC 2460 .R58 REF
Synonyms and Antonyms:
Cambridge French-English Thesaurus. PC 2591
.L24 REF
Dictionnaire de synonymes et contraires. PC 2591 .B485 REF
Using French Synonyms. PC 2591 .B37 REF
Grammar & Usage Guides
L’Art de conjuger. Bescherelle. PC 2272 .A78 REF
Le bon usage. Grevisse. PC 2111 .G7937 REF
Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing.
Ottawa: Bureau de la traduction and Dundurn Press. PN 147 C36 REF.
English usage and style guide for writers and translators translating
into English.
Dictionnaire des Cooccurrences. PC 2445 .B286 REF
Provides examples from journals and magazines and well-known writers, of the phrases, adjectives and verbs commonly used with a term.
French Reference Grammar: A Complete Handbook of
the French Language.
PC 2112 .C26 REF
GIFT French Grammar at Your Own Pace for Windows.
By Language Training Canada. CA1 CS 96G32 2002 CD-ROM Ask for at Circ.
Desk: Use at CD-ROM Workstation, REF
La grammaire d’aujourd’hui. Paris:
Flammarion. PC 2112 .A77 REF
Guide du rédacteur. Ottawa: Bureau
de la traduction. Z 253 .G84 REF
An excellent guide by the federal government Translation Bureau to common
difficulties in French usage and style.
Lexique analogique. Ottawa: Bureau de la
traduction. CA1 SS5 97L21 Gov Docs (Basement)
Provides French equivalents for common English terms that are hard to
translate.
La nouvelle grammaire en tableaux. By Marie-Eva de Villers. PC 2105 .V54 REF
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Literature
General
Beaumarchais, Jean-Pierre de, Daniel Couty, and Alain Rey. Dictionnaire
des littératures de langue française. 3 vols.
Paris: Bordas, c1984- . PQ 41 B4 1984 REF
Dolbow, Sandra W. Dictionary of modern French
literature : from the age of reason through realism. New
York: Greenwood Press, 1986. PQ 41 D65 1986 REF
France, Peter, ed. The new Oxford companion
to literature in French. Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press,
1995. PQ 41 .N48 1995 REF
Grente, Cardinal Georges, ed. Dictionnaire
des lettres françaises. Rev. ed. 2 vols.
[Paris]: Fayard, 1992- . PQ 41 .D55 1992 REF
Grente, Georges Grente, et al., eds. Dictionnaire
des lettres françaises : le dix-neuvième siècle.
2 vols. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1971-1972.
PQ 41 G7 REF
Levi, Anthony. Guide to French literature
: 1789 to the present. Chicago: St. James Press, c1992.
PQ 226 L48 1992 REF
---. Guide to French literature : beginnings
to 1789. Detroit : St. James Press, 1994. PQ 151
L48 1994 REF
Mitterand, Henri, ed. Dictionnaire des grandes
oeuvres de la littérature française. Paris:
Dictionnaires Le Robert, c1992. PQ 41 .D468 1992 REF
Popkin, Debra and Michael Popkin, eds. Modern
French literature : a library of literary criticism. 2
vols. New York: Ungar, c1977. PQ 306 M57 REF
Sinnreich-Levi, Deborah and Ian S. Laurie, eds.
Literature of the French and Occitan Middle Ages : eleventh to fifteenth
centuries. Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit
: Gale Group, c1999. PQ 151 .L57 1999 REF
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Fiction
Brosman, Catharine Savage, ed. French novelists,
1900-1930. Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit:
Gale Research, c1988. PQ 671 .F67 1988 REF
---. French novelists, 1930-1960. Dictionary
of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research, c1988.
PQ 671 .F68 1988 REF
---. French novelists since 1960. Dictionary
of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research, c1989. PQ
671 .F69 1989 REF
---. Nineteenth-century French fiction writers
: naturalism and beyond, 1860-1900. Dictionary of literary
biography. Detroit: Gale Research, c1992. PQ 661 .N56 1992
REF
---. Nineteenth century French fiction writers
: romanticism and realism, 1800-1860. Dictionary of literary
biography. Detroit: Gale Research, c1992. PQ 655 .N56 1992
REF
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Poetry
Beum, Robert, ed. Nineteenth-century French
poets. Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit:
Gale Group, c2000. PQ 433 .N56 2000 REF
Coleman, Kathleen. Guide to French poetry
explication. New York: G.K. Hall : Maxwell Macmillan International;
Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada, c1993. PQ 401 .C65 1993
REF
Jarrety, Michel, et al., eds. Dictionnaire
de poésie de Baudelaire à nos jours. Paris:
Presses universitaires de France, 2001. PQ 433 .D53 2001 REF
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Drama
Confortès, Claude. Répertoire
du théâtre contemporain de langue française.
Paris : Nathan, c2000. PQ 556 .C635 2000 REF
Cooper, Barbara T., ed. French dramatists,
1789-1914. Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit
: Gale Research, 1998. PQ 501 .F733 1998 REF
Gaines, James F, ed. The Molière Encyclopedia.
Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. PQ 1851 .M57 2002 REF NEW!
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Québec
Grandpré, Pierre de. Histoire de la
littérature française du Québec. 4
vols. Montréal: Librairie Beauchemin, 1967-1969.
PQ 3917 .Q3 G7 1967 REF
Lamonde, Yvan. Je me souviens : la littérature
personnelle au Québec (1860-1980). Québec:
Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture, 1983.
PS 8081 L3 1983 REF
Lemire, Maurice, et al., eds. Dictionnaire
des oeuvres littéraires du Québec. 6 vols.
Montréal: Fides, 1978 - . PQ 3901 .D5 REF
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North America
Benson, Eugene, and William Toye, eds. The
Oxford companion to Canadian literature. 2nd ed.
Toronto: Oxford UP, 1997. PS 8015 .O93 1997 REF
Hamel, Réginald, John Hare, and Paul Wyczynski. Dictionnaire
des auteurs de langue française en Amérique du Nord.
Montréal: Fides, 1989. PQ 3904 H25 1989.
Lang, Robert, et al., eds. Contemporary Canadian
authors : a bio-bibliographical guide to current Canadian writers in
fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures,
television, and other fields. Toronto: Gale Canada, c1996
- . PS 8081 .C66 1996 REF
New, W.H., ed. Canadian writers before 1890.
Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research,
c1990. PS 8081 C5 1990 REF
---. Canadian writers, 1890-1920.
Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research,
c1990. PS 8071.2 C37 1990 REF
---. Canadian writers, 1920-1959.
Dictionary of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research,
c1988, c1989. First Series: PS 8081 C54 1988 REF ; Second Series:
PS 8081 C55 1989 REF
---. Canadian writers since 1960. Dictionary
of literary biography. Detroit: Gale Research, c1986, c1987.
First Series: PS 8081 C58 1986 REF ; Second Series: PS 8081 C59
1987 REF
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Women and Literature
Makward, Christiane P., et al. Dictionnaire
littéraire des femmes de langue française : de Marie de
France à Marie NDiaye. Paris: Karthala, c1996. PQ
149 .M35 1996 REF
Sartori, Eva Martin, et al., eds. The feminist
encyclopedia of French literature. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press, 1999. PQ 149 .F47 1999 REF
Sartori, Eva Martin, and Dorothy Wynne Zimmerman, eds. French
women writers : a bio-bibliographical source book. New
York: Greenwood Press, 1991. PQ 149 .F73 1991 REF
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Science Fiction
Lofficier, Jean-Marc, and Randy Lofficier. French
science fiction, fantasy, horror and pulp fiction : a guide to cinema,
television, radio, animation, comic books and literature from the middle
ages to the present. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, c2000.
PQ 637 .F3 L64 2000
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Literary
Terms
Bergez, Daniel, Violaine Géraud, and Jean-Jacques Robrieux.
Vocabulaire de l'analyse littéraire.
Paris: Dunod, 1996, c1994. PN 172 .B496 1996 REF
Dictionnaire des genres et notions littéraires.
Paris: Encyclopaedia Universalis : A. Michel, c1997. PN 44.5 .D53
1997 REF
Gallix, François. Dictionnaire raisonné
bilingue de l'analyse littéraire. Paris: Ed. du
Temps, c2000. PN 81 .G55 2000 REF
Hules, Virginia T., and Michael Grimaud. Le
français littéraire fondamental : a glossary for students
and teachers. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America,
c1981. PC 2680 H8 1981 REF
Quivy, Mireille. Glossaire bilingue des termes littéraires: francais-anglais. Paris: Ellipses, 2004.
PN 44.5 .Q58 2004 REF
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Web
Resources:
Literature
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Selected French Internet Collections
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Electronic Texts in French
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Electronic Journals, Magazines, & News Sources
in French
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Dictionaries and Language Resources
Dictionaries & Glossaries
ARTFL Project
A large digitization project by the U. of Chicago that includes searchable French dictionaries from the 16th, 17th, 18th,
& 19th centuries (can be searched together or separately): Dictionnaires d'autrefois and the FRANTEXTdatabase of over 2,600 keyword-searchable works of French literature from all time periods, an excellent corpus for language usage over time. Searches can be limited by time period, genre, author and title. (See also other ARTFL literature collections and others listed under "Electronic Texts in French" above.)
La base de terminologie CILF
Conseil international de la langue française, France. Provides translations and some definitions for terms in French, English, Spanish and German. (Also has an excellent grammar/language learning section: "Orthonet".)
Collins-Robert French-English Dictionary.
Electronic version of Collins Robert English-French, French-English Dictionary.
Available on campus via "All Programs". NOTE: Limit of 10 simultaneous users. Please log out when done.
FranceTerme (formerly La
base de données CRITER)
Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie,
France. The Commission's database of new French terms and definitions
recommended for use by the administration and government services
in France.
Gallica
-- Dictionnaires & encyclopédies
Historical dictionaires, general and specialized. See also Gallica
home page for many other digitized collections from the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Glossaries
by the Government of Canada Translation Bureau
Selected glossaries in specialized fields are available online (Select "Publications"); older print
editions are available in the R.P. Bell Library, in Gov. Docs (CA1
SS5.50...)
Le
Grand dictionnaire terminologique (GDT)
By the Office québécois de la langue française.
This is the Quebec government's terminology data bank in English and
French. (Also has an excellent grammar/language learning tool: "La
banque de dépannage linguistique".)
IATE (InterActive Terminology for Europe)
European Union terminology database of the terms and phrases used by EU institutions, in the 23 official EU languages.
Oxford SuperLex.
Electronic version of Oxford Hachette English-French, French-English Dictionary.
Available on campus via "Academic Programs".
Petit Robert - version électronique 2008.
Available on campus via "All Programs".
TERMIUM and TERMIUM Plus: The Electronic
Trilingual Dictionary and Linguistic Database of the Government of
Canada Translation Bureau.
Coverage: French, English and Spanish terms, with definitions and
documentation.
YourDictionary.com
-- French Dictionaries
Links to several general and specialized French dictionaries.
Grammar & Usage Guides
La
banque de dépannage linguistique
By the Office québécois de la langue française.
Provides responses to the most frequently asked questions on French
grammar, spelling, punctuation, abbreviations and vocabulary in general.
Language Portal of Canada / Le Portail linguistique du Canada
Government of Canada Translation Bureau web site containing French and English language tools (writing guides, word games and exercises, articles on usage, etc.)
Orthonet
By Conseil international de la langue française in Paris (CILF). Provides correct and new spellings, grammar explanations, games and tests.
YourDictionary.com
Grammars
Select links to French grammars
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Cultural Information
zof.ca: zone francophone
Le site des arts et de la culture des communautés francophones
et acadienne du Canada.
Francophonies
canadiennes: identités culturelles (by U. de Moncton, York
U., & TFO)
A multimedia site on the culture of francophone communities in Canada
with biographical profiles, interviews, chronologies, maps, video
clips, sound files, excerpts from historical and other texts, and
links to more information.
HAPAX: French Resources
on the Web (by French Professor Angelo Metzidakis, Sweet Briar
College, Virginia)
Links to French resources are organized by subject e.g. cinema, music,
gastronomy, etc.
Ministère
de la culture et de la communication, gouvernement de France
"Internet culturel" is an excellent collection of links to information
on all aspects of French culture.
The
Tour de France in 80 Stages (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France)
Provides a profile of France including specific topics such as politics,
education, families, religion, etc., with supporting facts and statistics.
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French-Language Libraries/ Library Resources
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Digital Collections
Gallica
Digital holdings from La Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Access over 70,000 works and 80,000 images and many hours of audio
files, including historical, literary, scientific, legal, political
and other works.
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French-Language Publishers & Booksellers
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