La storia delle voci “Lingua” e “Linguistica” di Carlo Tagliavini

This essay traces the history of Carlo Tagliavini’s entries Lingue e Linguistica, published in 1934 in the XXI volume of the Enciclopedia Italiana. After reconstructing their genesis and summarizing their contents, the essay focuses on the work of revising and updating the articles that Tagliavini carried out in the three following decades. The original articles were in fact expanded and transformed into independent publications. The fact that this reworking – which went on until the 1960s – originated in two encyclopaedic entries shows the importance of Tagliavini’s participation in the linguistic section of the Enciclopedia Italiana.