Giacomo Devoto

Giacomo Devoto (19 July 1897 – 25 December 1974) was an Italian historical linguist and one of the greatest exponents of the twentieth century of the discipline.

[1] In January 1945, after the Liberation, along with Piero Calamandrei, Corrado Tumiati, Enzo Enriques Agnoletti and Paride Baccarini, he founded, in Florence, the Associazione Federalisti Europei (AFE, its acronym – in English Association of European Federalists),[2] uniting afterwards integrating into the European Federalist Movement founded by Altiero Spinelli, which between 1947–1948 had an important role.

He received several degrees "honoris causa" from the Paris, Basel, Strasbourg, Berlin (Humboldt), Krakow, Zagreb and Lima Universities.

He was President of the Accademia della Crusca from December 1963, Academician of Denmark and Finland, Glotología Emeritus and Rector of the Università degli Studi di Firenze.

He, along with Gian Carlo Oli, was the author of the Vocabolario Illustrato della lingua italiana (Illustrated Vocabulary of the Italian language) and of the Vocabolario della lingua Italiana Il Devoto-Oli (Vocabulary of the Italian language), edited by Luca Serianni and Maurizio Trifone.