Accademia della Crusca launches maritime language digital archive

The Accademia della Crusca and the Lega Navale Italiana have launched ‘La lingua del mare’ (The Language of the Sea), a project dedicated to collecting, studying, and digitizing the linguistic heritage of maritime culture. Presented at the Biblioteca Centrale della Marina Militare in Rome, the initiative aims to make the terminology of navigation, fishing, and nautical sports accessible through a new digital portal, linguadelmare.it.

The project utilizes historical dictionaries, documents, and unpublished materials to trace the evolution of maritime language, which in turn helps reconstruct historical techniques, trades, and traditions. A significant portion of the resources comes from the Centro Studi Tradizioni Nautiche in Naples, which holds over 10,000 volumes, archives of approximately 250 periodicals, and the complete collection of the ‘Lega Navale’ magazine dating back to 1897.

Designed for a wide audience including scholars, teachers, students, and enthusiasts, the portal will progressively expand with new sources, images, and entries. The initiative also includes a video series featuring twelve key words intended to engage younger generations with maritime history.