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''A Latin Dictionary'' (or ''Harpers' Latin Dictionary'', often referred to as Lewis and Short or L&S) is a popular English-language
lexicographical Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...
work of the
Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of ...
, published by
Harper and Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
of
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in 1879 and printed simultaneously in the United Kingdom by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.


History

The work 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 Ethan Allen Andrews of an earlier Latin-German dictionary, ''Wörterbuch der Lateinischen Sprache'', by the German
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
Wilhelm Freund, in turn based on I.J.G. Scheller’s Latin–German dictionary of 1783. The Andrews translation was partially revised by Freund himself, then by
Henry Drisler Henry Drisler (27 December 1818 – 30 November 1897) was an American classical scholar. Life He was born on Staten Island, New York. Drisler graduated at Columbia College in 1839, taught classics in the Columbia grammar school for four years, a ...
, and was finally edited by Short and Lewis. The division of labour between the two editors was remarkably unequal. Short, a very thorough but slow worker, produced material for the letters A through C, but B and C were lost by Harpers, meaning that his work now appears only in the letter A (216 pages), while Lewis, who worked in the time he could spare from his law practice, was solely responsible for the entries beginning with the letters B through Z (1803 pages). In 1890 Lewis published a heavily abridged version of the dictionary, entitled ''An Elementary Latin Dictionary,'' for the use of students. Sometimes called the ''Elementary Lewis,'' it is still in print today. The adoption of the book by Oxford University Press was the result of the failure of its own project to create a new Latin-English dictionary in 1875.
Henry Nettleship Henry Nettleship (5 May 1839 – 10 July 1893) was an English classical scholar. Life Nettleship was born at Kettering, and was educated at Lancing College, Durham School and Charterhouse schools, and gained a scholarship for entry to Corpus Chr ...
and John Mayor had been commissioned to produce a new Latin dictionary based on a fresh reading of the sources, but after Mayor withdrew from the project, Nettleship was unable to complete it on his own; he eventually published his research as notes on Lewis and Short. While the Press had earlier published John Riddle's 1835 translation of Scheller's Latin–German dictionary, this was a much more expensive book. The Press thus adopted ''Harpers' Latin Dictionary'' as a stopgap measure, paying Harper and Brothers 10 per cent royalties. Harper and Brothers sold its rights to the American Book Company in 1899, shortly before its bankruptcy. From the time of its publication, many scholars have criticized the dictionary for its errors and inconsistencies. Because of various circumstances, however, no replacement was attempted until 1933, with the ''
Oxford Latin Dictionary The ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (or ''OLD'') is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition ...
'', which was completed in 1983. In 2020, Lewis & Short was reprinted under a new publisher. The dictionary'
full text (year 1879)
is available on-line at numerous websites.


Comparison with other dictionaries

Among classicists, Lewis and Short has been largely superseded by the ''
Oxford Latin Dictionary The ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (or ''OLD'') is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition ...
'', 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 the increased availability of modern editions, the ''OLD'' editors had access to a larger variety of classical works. It was decided in the ''OLDs planning that the ''OLD'' would not encompass Latin written later than AD 200, excepting a small few exceptions. Although classicists still consult Lewis and Short, they tend to prefer the ''OLD''. Lewis and Short retains value for its refined sense of the nuances of English diction as it interfaces with Latin diction (in contrast with OLD's preference for plainer diction) and also for the sensitivity of its quotations from classical texts, reflecting this. Lewis and Short's primary focus is on classical Latin, not medieval Latin. Nevertheless, Lewis & Short is consulted by medievalists, renaissance specialists, and early modernists, as it includes some Late and Medieval Latin, if somewhat inconsistently, and classical Latin usages are very relevant in medieval Latin. The '' Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources'' supplements Lewis & Short for medieval Latin vocabulary. Another dictionary focused on medieval Latin is J. F. Niermeyer's ''Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus'', first published in 1976, with an enhanced second edition in year 2002, about 1500 pages. The medieval Latin dictionary ''Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis'' by
Du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educate ...
was originally published in 3 volumes in 1678, it was expanded to 10 volumes during the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is probably still the most frequently used dictionary for medieval Latin vocabulary. On occasion people confuse Lewis and Short (or L&S) with Liddell and Scott, its
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
counterpart, entitled ''
A Greek–English Lexicon ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Hen ...
''. The 1925 and later editions of Liddell and Scott are commonly referred to by the abbreviation ''LSJ'' after the names of its editors Liddell, Scott and the editor of the 1925 revision,
Jones Jones may refer to: People * Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname * List of people with surname Jones * Jones (singer), a British singer-songwriter Arts and entertainment * Jones (''Animal Farm''), a human character in George Orwe ...
.


See also

*
Oxford Latin Dictionary The ''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (or ''OLD'') is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition ...
* Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources * William Whitaker's Words


References


External links


Browse text at PerseusPerseus Word Study Tool
including Lewis and Short and Lewis's ''Elementary Latin Dictionary''
Logeion
combining Lewis and Short with other Latin and Greek dictionaries
Translatum LSJ
combining Lewis and Short with other Latin and Greek dictionaries in a hyperlinked wiki environment.
Latin Dictionary
Lewis and Short and Whittaker's Words for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

Glossa
Lewis and Short for the web and desktop (based on
Adobe AIR Adobe AIR (also known as Adobe Integrated Runtime and is codenamed Apollo) is a cross-platform runtime system currently developed by Harman International, in collaboration with Adobe Inc., for building desktop applications and mobile application ...
)
Verba
Lewis and Short for
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

Diogenes
ancient text browsing application including Lewis and Short
Lewis & Short's Latin–English Dictionary for Windows
with color-coded definitions and quotations
Catalogue page from Oxford University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latin Dictionary, A 1879 non-fiction books Oxford dictionaries Latin dictionaries 19th-century Latin books