Catholicon () is a 15th-century

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologie ...

written in Breton,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

. It is the first Breton dictionary and also the first French dictionary. It contains six thousand entries and was compiled in 1464 by the Breton priest

Jehan Lagadeuc Jehan is a male given name. It is the old orthography of Jean in Old French, and is rarely given anymore. It is also a variant of the Persian name Jahan in some South Asian languages. People with the given name Jehan * Jehan Adam (15th century ...

. It was printed in 1499 in

Tréguier Tréguier (; br, Landreger) is a port town in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is the capital of the province of Trégor. Geography Tréguier is located 36 m. N.W. of Saint-Brieuc by road. The port is situa ...

. A manuscript of the dictionary is preserved in the

national library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

in Paris, identified as Latin 7656. This ''Catholicon'' is referred to by some historians as the , in reference to

Armorica Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; br, Arvorig, ) is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic Coast ...

, which is a name for

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. It is a different dictionary than the , which is an English-Latin dictionary compiled at very nearly the same time in England. The is also to be distinguished from the ''Catholicon'' of John of Genoa, a dictionary dated late 13th century written in Italy.

Bibliography

* ''Le Catholicon'', reproduction of Jehan Calvez's edition (5 November 1499) from a copy at Rennes, edited by Christian-J. Guyonvarc'h, Éditions Ogam, Rennes, 1975 **–do. –New edition issued by éditions Armeline, Brest, 2005 * * ''Le vocabulaire breton du Catholicon (1499), le premier dictionnaire breton imprimé breton-français-latin de Jehan Lagadeuc'', edited by Gwennole Le Menn, (Bibliothèque bretonne; 11.) Imprimerie Keltia Graphic, Edition Skol (Spézet), 2001 * *

External links

Facsimile edition of the ''Catholicon''
Breton language Breton dictionaries French dictionaries Latin dictionaries Multilingual dictionaries 15th-century Latin books {{Dict-stub