Massimo Oro Nobili, on the basis of  the studies by Frances Yates (1934) and by Prof. Lamberto Tassinari (2008), points out that: on the one hand, (i) in the address “To the Reader” of his  first dictionary (1598), John Florio emphasizes  the fundamental importance of his father Michelangelo’s monolingual manuscript Italian dictionary, on the genesis of his own bilingual Italian-English dictionary; on the other hand, (ii) in the “Epistle Dedicatorie” of the same bilingual dictionary, John clearly and openly claims his own exclusive merits in the translation of Italian words into English. It was practically impossible for John to create his first grandiose bilingual vocabulary by himself, without the basis of an extended Italian monolingual dictionary! It is a very important, documented “modus operandi”: the paternal “materials” are reworked and translated into English by John!  It is a“modus operandi”that, in accordance with “the Floriana thesis” by Santi Paladino, will be replicated also in Second Fruits and still in the plays that will be attributed to William of Stratford. 

The genesis of John Florio's first dictionary (278.83 kB)