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'''A Latin Dictionary''' is a popular English-language lexicographical work of the ancient Latin language, completed in 1879, published by the Oxford University Press, and still widely used by classical scholars and Latinists.

Contents

History

Comparison with other dictionaries

References

See also

External links

History

The work's full title is ''A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D.'' It is usually referred to as 'Lewis and Short' after the names of its editors Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. It was derived from the 1850 English translation by E. A. Andrews of an earlier Latin-German dictionary, ''Wörterbuch der Lateinischen Sprache'', by the German philologist Wilhelm Freund. The Andrews translation was partially revised by Freund himself, then by Henry Drisler, and finally edited by Charles Short and Charlton T. Lewis.^[1]
Interestingly, the division of labor between the two editors was remarkably unequal. Short was solely responsible for the entries beginning with the letter A (216 pages); Lewis was solely responsible for the entries beginning with the letters B through Z (1803 pages). This may account for the more prominent billing Lewis received in the dictionary's title.
The dictionary's full text is available on-line from the Perseus Project. Although this dictionary is published by Oxford, it should not be confused with the ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'', a more modern lexicon edited by P. G. W. Glare.

Comparison with other dictionaries

Among classicists, Lewis & Short has been largely superseded by the ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'', called the OLD for short. Lewis and Short incorporated material from existing Latin dictionaries; the OLD, by contrast, started from scratch, following procedures similar to those of the well-regarded ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Thanks to increased availability of modern editions, the OLD editors had access to a larger variety of classical works.^[2] Although classicists still consult Lewis and Short, they tend to prefer the OLD.
On the other hand, Lewis and Short remain the standard reference work for medievalists, renaissance specialists, and early modernists. The OLD rarely meets their needs, since it was decided early in the OLD's planning that the work would not encompass works written later than 200 A.D. A few exceptions were made for especially important texts from the late classical period, such as Augustine's ''De Civitate Dei'', but for periods later than that the OLD is considerably less useful.
In cases where Lewis and Short do not answer a medieval usage question, J. F. Niermeyer's ''Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus'' usually supplies an answer. The ''Lexicon Minus'' was completed in 1976 by C. van de Kieft after Niermeyer's death, and has since become a standard reference work.^[3] More recent editions of the ''Lexicon Minus'' have corrections and expansions; also, in later editions all words are defined in both English, French, and German, making it of greater international importance than Lewis and Short.
The ''Glossarium ad scriptores media et infirmae latinitatis'' completed in 1678 by Charles du Fresne (who is commonly referred to as "Ducange" because he held the title "Sieur du Cange") is now rarely referred to, as Niermeyer's ''Lexicon Minus'' incorporates most of its information.
In 1890 Lewis published a heavily abridged version of Lewis and Short, entitled ''An Elementary Latin Dictionary'' for the use of students. Sometimes called the ''Elementary Lewis,'' it is still in print today, and remains a superb reference for serious students. It offers more thorough definitions than most competing student dictionaries, and is also much lighter and cheaper than the full Lewis and Short. It remains too large to carry around handily, but deserves a place on the shelf of any third- or fourth-term Latin student.
On occasion people confuse Lewis and Short (or 'L&S') with its Greek counterpart, entitled ''A Greek-English Lexicon''. This book is commonly referred to by the abbreviation 'LSJ' after the names of its editors Liddell, Scott, and Jones.

References

1. See the Advertisement of the book itself, available on WikiSource.
2. Mueller, Janel M. "Oxford Latin Dictionary" (review). Modern Philology, Vol. 83, No. 2. (Nov., 1985), pp. 223-225.
3. Brooke, C. N. L. "Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus" (review). The English Historical Review, Vol. 93, No. 368. (Jul., 1978), pp. 655-656.

See also

★ William Whitaker's Words

External links

★ Browse text at Perseus

★ Search text at Perseus

★ Official home page of print edition at the Oxford University Press

★ Official home page of the Elementary Lewis at the Oxford University Press