The ''Promptorium parvulorum'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "Storehouse for children") is an English-Latin

bilingual dictionary A bilingual dictionary or translation dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to Translation, translate Word (linguistics), words or phrases from one language to another. Bilingual dictionaries can be ''unidirectional'', meaning that they list ...

completed around 1440 AD. It was the first English-to-Latin dictionary. It occupies about 300 printed book pages.The ''Promptorium Parvulorum'' as published in 1865, downloadable at Archive.org
The authorship is attributed to Geoffrey the Grammarian, a friar who lived in

Lynn, Norfolk King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, England.Entry for "Geoffrey the Grammarian" in ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (edition published 1885-1900), volume 21. After the invention of the printing press, the ''Promptorium'' was repeatedly published in the early 16th century by the printer Wynkyn de Worde. In the 19th century, the

Camden Society The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary ...

republished it under the extended title ''Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum'' (“Storehouse for children or clerics”). For language historians it is a major reference work for the vocabulary of late medieval English. It is also a frequently cited source in the ''

Middle English Dictionary The ''Middle English Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Middle English published by the University of Michigan. It comprises roughly 15,000 pages with a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 11751500, based on the analysis of o ...

'', the primary dictionary of late medieval English, published by the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

References

External links

The ''Promptorium Parvulorum'' as published in 1865, downloadable at Archive.org
15th-century books in Latin 1440s books English bilingual dictionaries Latin dictionaries {{dict-stub

See also

References

External links