THE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF PORTUGUESE OF BRAZIL: LEXICAL TESTIMONY OF PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE IN COLONIAL BRAZIL

Abstract

The Historical Dictionary of Portuguese of Brazil - XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries (DHPB) is a reference work built upon a database composed of texts from the XVI, XVII, XVIII and beginning of the XIX centuries written about Brazil during its colonial period. It is, therefore, a well documented dictionary, that is, the meaning of the word entries and their many meanings are strictly contextualized confirming its usage. The aim is to record a lexical approach of the Portuguese Language in Brazil during the mentioned centuries. To elaborate the DHPB an organized and specific methodology was used to contemplate the many aspects of the Portuguese Language, these aspects put the dictionary in an outstanding position in the current panorama of the Portuguese lexicography in Brazil. In this text some important aspects of the applied methodology are shown.