1. Moth's Danish Dictionary

Matthias Moth (1649-1719) trained as a doctor, but entered into government service when his sister became the mistress of king Christian V. Through rigid diligence and rare administrative prowess he soon became one of the most prominent and powerful public servants of the realm. However, after the death of the king in 1699, his political role came to an end, and he was able to devote himself to his philological works. As a young student he had - under the pseudonym anagram Thomas Hittam - translated Ovid's Metamorphoses into Danish verse. Not until 1979 were excerpts from this work published together with the lavish copperplates which Moth had commissioned, but never used.

His life's work turned out to be a lexicon, a Danish Dictionary for which he systematically collected words and idioms from every corner of the Danish kingdom through a large network of communicators. Moth was well ahead of his time as a lexicographer, as he did not put the main emphasis on Danish as a literary language or as a scientific means of communication, but first and foremost sought to register the spoken vernacular. He edited the large work himself, in 80 folio volumes, which his heirs in 1753 sold to the king (from 1784 in The Royal Library). In the first instance the emergence of this material put a stop to the work on the dictionary project of the Academy of Sciences and Letters, which was based on preparatory work by Frederik Rostgaard. An amalgamation of the two projects was later decided upon where Moth's material was supposed to 'improve' on that of Rostgaard.

The first volume of Danish Dictionary of the Academy of Sciences and Letters comprising the letter A, was published in 1780, eighth and last volume (V-Z) not until 1905. In 1919 it was succeeded by Verner Dahlerup's Dictionary of the Danish Language (28 vols.).