The Accademia was founded in Florence in 1583, and has since been characterized by its efforts to maintain the purity of the Italian language.[3] Crusca, which means "bran" in Italian, helps convey the metaphor that its work is similar to winnowing, as also does its emblem depicting a sifter for straining out corrupt words and structures (as bran is separated from wheat). The academy motto is "Il più bel fior ne coglie" ('She gathers the fairest flower'), a famous line by the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. In 1612, the Accademia published the first edition of its dictionary, the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca,[4] which has served as the model for similar works in French, Spanish, German and English.[3]