Hesychius of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

( grc, Ἡσύχιος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Hēsýchios ho Alexandreús, lit=Hesychios the Alexandrian) was a Greek

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...

ian who, probably in the 5th or 6th century AD,E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship (2007) p. 88. compiled the richest

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...

of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived, probably by absorbing the works of earlier lexicographers. The work, titled "Alphabetical Collection of All Words" (, ''Synagōgē Pasōn Lexeōn kata Stoicheion''), includes more than 50,000 entries, a copious list of peculiar words, forms and phrases, with an explanation of their meaning, and often with a reference to the author who used them or to the district of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

where they were current. Hence, the book is of great value to the student of the

Ancient Greek dialects Ancient Greek in classical antiquity, before the development of the common Koine Greek of the Hellenistic period, was divided into several varieties. Most of these varieties are known only from inscriptions, but a few of them, principally Ae ...

and in the restoration of the text of the classical authors generallyparticularly of such writers as

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...

and

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

, who used many unusual words. Hesychius is important, not only for Greek philology, but also for studying lost languages and obscure dialects (such as

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

) and in reconstructing

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

. Many of the words that are included in this work are not found in surviving ancient Greek texts. Hesychius' explanations of many epithets and phrases also reveal many important facts about the religion and social life of the ancients. In a prefatory letter Hesychius mentions that his lexicon is based on that of

Diogenianus Diogenianus ( el, Διογενειανός, Διογενιανός) was a Greek grammarian from Heraclea in Pontus (or in Caria) who flourished during the reign of Hadrian. He was the author of an alphabetical lexicon, chiefly of poetical words, ...

(itself extracted from an earlier work by Pamphilus), but that he has also used similar works by the grammarian

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

, Apion,

Heliodorus Heliodorus is a Greek name meaning "Gift of the Sun". Several persons named Heliodorus are known to us from ancient times, the best known of which are: *Heliodorus (minister) a minister of Seleucus IV Philopator c. 175 BC *Heliodorus of Athen ...

Amerias Amerias (Greek: Ἀμερίας, 3rd century BC) was an ancient Macedonian lexicographer, known for his compilation of a glossary titled '' Glossai'' (', terms or words). Αnother of his works was called ''Rhizotomikos'' ('), an etymological treat ...

and others. Hesychius was probably not a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

. Explanations of words from Gregory Nazianzus and other Christian writers (''glossae sacrae'') are later interpolations. The lexicon survives in one deeply corrupt 15th-century manuscript, which is preserved in the library of San Marco at Venice, (Marc. Gr. 622, 15th century). The best edition is by (1858–1868), but no complete comparative edition of the manuscript has been published since it was first printed by Marcus Musurus (at the press of

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

) in Venice, 1514 (reprinted in 1520 and 1521 with modest revisions). A modern edition has been published under the auspices of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

, begun by Kurt Latte (vol. 1 published in 1953, vol. 2 posthumously in 1966) and completed by Peter Allan Hansen and Ian C. Cunningham (vol. 3, 2005, vol. 4, 2009).

References

* Harry Thurston Peck, ''Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'', 1898. * Eleanor Dickey, ''Ancient Greek Scholarship'' (Oxford 2007) 88-90

External links

*
The new continuation of Latte's editionVol. III (pi through sigma)Vol. IV (tau through omega)
*
Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon
', Moritz Schmidt (ed.), Ienae, typis Maukij, 1867. *
Hesychii glossographi discipulus et epiglōssistēs russus in ipsa Constantinopoli, sec. XII-XIII.: e Codice Vindobonensi graecorussica omnia, additus aliis pure graecis, et trium aliorum Cyrilliani lexici codicum speciminibus: aliisque miscellaneis philologici maxime et slavistici argumenti
', Bartholomaeus Kopilar (ed.), Vindobonae, 1839, prostat apud G. Gerold. * Kurt Latte, Ian Campbell Cunningham (ed.),

'. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. Pp. xxxvii, 660. . €169,95. Review by Eleanor Dickey. {{Authority control 5th-century Byzantine people 6th-century Byzantine people 5th-century Egyptian people 6th-century Egyptian people Ancient Greek grammarians Ancient Greek lexicographers Roman-era Alexandrians Ancient Greek writers 5th-century Byzantine writers 6th-century Byzantine writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown