Google doodle on María Moliner – great Spanish lexicographer who played with words for 15 years

Google today celebrates the 119^th birthday of María Moliner with a stunning doodle. She is best known for Diccionario de uso del español (Dictionary of Spanish use) that was first published sometime between 1966 and 1977. She started working on it in 1952.

The great Spanish lexicographer, María Moliner spent her almost entire life to working and playing with words. She had put all her endeavours to make the power of words accessible to all. She single-handedly created a new kind of reference book that was extolled as 'the most complete, most useful, most accurate, and funniest dictionary of the Spanish language' by the Columbian novelist Gabriel García Márquez.

María Moliner (María Juana Moliner Ruiz) was born on March 30, 1900 in Paniza in the province of Zaragoza. She was the eldest daughter of a doctor, Enrique Moliner. When she was just two years old, her family relocated to Almazán in the border province of Soria. Her father left for Argentina when she was a teenager but he never came back. She lived with her mother, sister and brother in severe poverty.

María Moliner managed to pursue Bachillerato at the Instituto General y Técnico Cardenal Cisneros despite severe poverty. She received a degree in History in 1921 from the University of Zaragoza. At the age of 25, she got married to Fernando Ramón Ferrando and became a mother of four. The couple later moved to Valencia.

When María Moliner was 46 years old, she was put in charge of the library at the Superior Technical School of Industrial Engineers in Madrid. She took her retirement in 1970 at the age of 70. She gained special interest in the popular libraries project, developing a plan for Bibliotecas Rurales (Rural Libraries) to help promote literacy and culture.

In 1952, she started compiling her Diccionario de uso del español. She used to work at home even after her job as a librarian. She had an extraordinary power of concentration. She would research words read in newspapers or heard on the street, aiming to outdo the dictionary published by the Real Academia Española.

The uniqueness of Moliner's dictionary is that it is grouped in families of words, not only providing detailed definitions but also synonyms and guidance on usage. She estimated two years to complete during the starting phases but her work was completed in not less than 15 years.

Moliner died on January 22, 1981 at the age of 81. She was also honoured with the Lorenzo Nieto López prize in 1973 by the Royal Spanish Academy. Her story was portrayed in a new play stage drama El Diccionario (The Dictionary) by Manuel Calzada Pérez in June 2013. Her life also inspired a documentary film, Tending Words. Google honours the great Spanish lady, who is sometimes referred to as The María Moliner, with an awesome doodle on her 119^th birthday.

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