Polish Dictionaries

The earliest dictionaries of the Polish language were bilingual aids, usually Polish–Latin, and date to the 15th century. The first dictionary dedicated solely to the Polish language was published in the early 19th century. Many dictionaries of the Polish language are named simply "the Dictionary of the Polish Language" ( pl, Słownik języka polskiego) or in similar fashion.

Bilingual

The first Polish dictionaries took the form of Polish–Latin (or more correctly, Old Polish–Latin) bilingual translation aids and date to the 15th century. The oldest known one is the ' from 1424; it contains about 500 entries, and is associated with the Prince Alexander of Masovia. The largest of those earliest dictionaries was the Silesian ''Mamotrekt kaliski'' (from ), with about 7,000 entries. The 16th century saw a proliferation of printed dictionaries; the first of those were written abroad and reprinted in Poland. The first such dictionary was the trilingual German–Latin–Polish ' from 1526. It had about 2,500 entries and was based on the work of the Dutch scholar Johannes Murmellius and published in Poland by Hieronim Wietor (most likely with Wietor responsible for the German part, and for the Polish). Dozens of other bilingual Polish dictionaries were published in the subsequent centuries by scholars such as , Johann Reuchlin, Jan Mączyński, , Grzegorz Knapski and others.

General

Many dictionaries in the Polish language and dedicated to the Polish language bear the generic name ''Słownik języka polskiego'' (lit. the Dictionary of the Polish Language). was published by Samuel Linde in the early 19th century (in six volumes from 1807 to 1814) and had 60,000 entries. Numerous other dictionaries of the Polish language have been published since. The ones following in Linde's path include the 110,000-entry ''Słownik języka polskiego'' published in Wilno in 1861 by a group of Polish scholars led by and the 270,000-entry ''Słownik języka polskiego'' edited by , and , published in several volumes from 1900 to 1927. After World War II, a major dictionary of the Polish language was the ''Słownik języka polskiego'' of Witold Doroszewski, published in volumes from 1958 to 1969, which quickly became considered a new classic.

As of the early 21st century, the largest dictionary of the Polish language is the 50-volume ' (published from 1994 to 2005) edited by . Several newer dictionaries are published on the Internet and are freely accessible to the public; they include the ''Słownik języka polskiego'' at Polish Wiktionary and the ' edited by of the (IJP PAN).

Specialized

There are also many specialized dictionaries in Polish. Some are focused on the Polish language, such as the etymological '' Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego'' (from 1927, edited by Aleksander Brückner); but many others focus on non-language topics, such as the Polish Biographical Dictionary.

See also

* History of Polish
* Polish proverbs

References

Further reading

*

External links

Słownik języka polskiego
at Wiktionary

Wielki słownik języka polskiego
at IJP PAN

Słownik polszczyzny XVI wieku
(Dictionary of 16th century Polish language) at IJP PAN

Słownik języka polskiego
at Polish Scientific Publishers PWN

Słownik języka polskiego
(edited by prof. Doroszewski, 1958–1969) at Polish Scientific Publishers PWN
*{{In lang, pl}
miejski.pl
– Polish equivalent of the Urban Dictionary

Polish language
15th-century establishments in Poland