John Florio

William M. Hamlin (Washington State University)

Ed. by David Fuller, University of Durham
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

Born c. 1553
Died 1625
Activity 1573-1625

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Lexicographer
Linguist
Translator

Resources

Florio's Works

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John Florio in a woodcut engraving from his 1613 translation of the

Essays

of Michel de Montaigne.

John Florio, whose long life coincided with the literary careers of Sir Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, is best known today for his exuberant English translation of the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. To his contemporaries, however, he was familiar primarily as a talented language teacher and an indefatigable compiler of dictionaries and linguistic guides. Ambitious, versatile, hugely industrious and occasionally belligerent, Florio was a conspicuous figure in the London of his day: an English native whose first language was Italian; a dedicated scholar who inspired mockery as well as praise; a man patronized by the rich and powerful who nonetheless died in poverty.

John…

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2892 words

Citation: Hamlin, William M.. "John Florio". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 November 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1571, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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