Vrančić\u27s dictionary

Prvi kao samostalna knjiga tiskani hrvatski rječnik (\u27Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europae linguarum\u27 Fausta Vrančića, 1595) odgovara bitnim književnojezičnim zahtjevima svojeg vremena. Određujući prostranstvo jezika »od Jadrana do Drave i Dunava«, to djelo izborom leksičke građe ostaje vjerno tradiciji koju je nastavilo, tj. otvaranju čakavštine prema drugim narječjima (prema štokavskom, ali i kajkavskom). U grafijsko-pravopisnom smislu teži da sjedini grafijske načine koji su se primjenjivali u južnim i u sjevernim krajevima, tj. da utre put takvoj prilagodbi latinice koja bi se temeljila na fonetsko-fonološkim potrebama hrvatskog jezika.\u27Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europae linguarum\u27 (Venice 1595) by Faust Vrančić signals the beginning of the lexicographic work on the Croatian language. Vrančić\u27s Dictionary, however, carries certain traits typical of beginners. Words of Croatian (and other languages) have not been given full lexical elaboration but are cited in their fundamental forms only. The number of entries is small. Still, in assessing Vrančić\u27s work one has to take into account the time when Vrančić was active. For the Croatian literary language this was the period of many unsettled problems: the Old Slavonic redaction was coming to an end, Glagolitic script was in decline and Latin script was not yet fully mastered. In those days every author was a potential reformer. This difficult task was taken on by Faust Vrančić as well. In defining the geographical area covered by the language »from the Adriatic to the Drava and the Danube rivers«, he remained faithful to the tradition of exposing Čakavian to other dialects (especially Štokavian but also Kajkavian). In the matter of orthography he attempted to overcome discrepancies in the use of the Latin script in the south and in the north, thus making way for the implementation of a Latin script which would be based on the phonetic and phonological requirements of the Croatian language