Portuguese priest and grammarian (1507-c.1581)
Fernão de Oliveira (1507 – c.1581), sometimes named Fernando de Oliveira or Fernando Oliveira, was a
Portuguese grammarian, Dominican friar, historian, cartographer, naval pilot and theorist on naval warfare and shipbuilding. An adventurous
humanist and renaissance man, he studied and published the first
grammar of the Portuguese language, the Grammatica da lingoagem portuguesa, in 1536.
[1] He was an early critic of slavery and the slave trade.
[2]
Biography
Fernão de Oliveira was born in
Aveiro in 1507, the son of a judge. Starting in 1520, he studied at the
Dominican Convent of
Évora, where he was a disciple of
André de Resende,
[1]
[3] but later left for Spain. In 1536 he was in Lisbon, when he published his Grammar, the first for the
Portuguese Language.
[4]
[5]
He had a troubled adventurous life, engaging in secret religious missions in Italy, perhaps for king
John III of Portugal. In 1545 he enlisted as pilot on a French ship, under command of the Baron Saint Blancard.
[1] Soon afterwards, they were arrested by an English fleet. While in
London he attended the court of
Henry VIII of England. Having returned to Portugal in 1547, he was arrested by the
Portuguese Inquisition due to his religious opinions; he was freed in 1551, through the intervention of
Cardinal Henrique.
In 1552, he became royal chaplain. He joined in an expedition organized by king John III in North Africa, where he was made prisoner for a year. In 1554, D. John III appointed him typographical
reviewer of the
University of Coimbra, where he also taught
rhetoric.
[1] From 1555 to 1557, he was again imprisoned. After this period, his life becomes uncertain. It is known that, in 1565, he received a pension from king
Sebastian of Portugal. He died c. 1581.
Works
Fernão de Oliveira wrote, among other:
- Grammatica da lingoagem portuguesa (Grammar of the Portuguese Language), 1536, printed in Lisbon by Germão Galharde (2ª ed. em 1871; 3ª ed. em 1936; 4ª ed. em 1975; 5ª ed. em 1981; 6ª ed. em 1988; 7ª ed. em 2000);
- Livro da Fabrica das Naos (Book of
naus' shipbuilding), c. 1580, manuscript in the National Portuguese Library (published by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça in 1898; 2ª ed. em 1991; 3ª ed. em 1995);
- Arte da guerra do mar (The art of sea warfare), printed in Coimbra in 1555 (2ª ed. em 1937; 3ª ed. em 1969; 4ª ed. em 1983),
- Ars nautica, (Nautical art) c. 1570, manuscript in Leiden Library,
- Historea de Portugal, (History of Portugal), after 1581 (texto apresentado por Pierre Valere, publ. in Nantes 1975).
- A Viage de Fernão de Magalhães, escripta p hu homem q foy na copanhia, c. 1570, ms. in Leiden Library,
- Livro da Antiguidade, Nobreza, Liberdade e Imunidade do Reino de Portugal (c. 1579/80, ms. in BNParis)
- Historia de Portugal de Fernando Oliveira (copiada em 1831 por António Nunes de Carvalho; in Fundo da Biblioteca da Univ. Católica Portuguesa)
References
- ^
a
b
c
d
GRAMMATICA DA LINGOAGEM PORTUGUESA DE FERNÃO DE OLIVEIRA at BNP, biography of Fernão de Oliveira at national treasures of BNP, the national Portuguese library.
-
^ Cardim, Pedro; Monteiro, Nuno Goncalo, eds. (2021).
Political Thought in Portugal and its Empire, c.1500–1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 14.
doi:
10.1017/9781108289634.
ISBN
978-1-108-41827-0.
-
^
A Propósito de Uma Nova Edição da “Gramática” de Fernão de Oliveira, Torres, Amadeu on a new edition of Fernão de Oliveira Grammar (in Portuguese).
-
^
Pluricentric languages: differing norms in different nations, Michael G. Clyne.
-
^
The history of linguistics in Europe from Plato to 1600, Vivien Law.
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