New-York tribune., 1879-12-21
H4RPLRS LATIN DICTIONARY


Professor of Latin in Cambridge University Eng
land saws that it "must supcrscde all its rivals
for common use,- is 80 crejitable to American
schoarsbip as an index of the bigh grade to which
classical learning has attained in this connfry that
We gladly give place 10 tho following apreeiatiVc
notice of it, which appeared in a recent number
of The London Athenavm. The reviewers hearty
recognition of the superiority of this Dictionary to
every European work of the kind, is only just
tribute to the learning, judgment and industry OF
the American editors:
A LATIN DICTIONARY. Founded Andrew SIS
Fatiian OF Freund. By CHARLTON 7. LEWIS. PAD.
aud CHARLES SHORT, LID. Oxford; Clarendon
Prcssl
1t Is rather more than four centuries since, IN
the very infancy Of printing the first atteps ut Latn
leXco was issued from the press IN Inc year n iaoo
berg bat perhaps OF Fans, the famous CnhOllcon Oh
Frar johannes Balbus Jantensls report o, s"ine-
wha, later date says that an edition pad pee pre-
yiouy printed from woOGen blocks ana III an Oinat.
il is in,rinsIcliy improbable large work could
have been executed by SO cumbersome process. now,
ever this may be, certain II is tnst the "Catboicon
when il dill appear, popular and was largely
reprinted at Venice and elsewhere IL was doubtless
TO barbarous moukish Latin grratly offended Poitan,
Ticinus and the other would-be puIisis ., .p.
Deum iiunuitalcnI! :! excaltns Erasmus IN his " Far
aphrasis" "qnas nnnas acduct auctor Cathoicon de
BIC yoce! steg2n ~ Act XIX - miseraa iua u,
ebantur oricula ierarum'
Aud la another place.
Jam ouanto insulsius immo mpudentius. delirat sl-
per lac voce neota in Heb, x 7 anisqnis fun auc,or
oreris ON mum indoctssim quad vocant Caholicon"
Balbus had avowedly founded his book Oh Two much
earrr works, OF the eleventh century by Papias,
called Eeneniarium Doc;in9 ETudimentum "a
"futie opus according scager). end the other Hu-
quito, Pi-sn of the twelfth century All these. To-
by one Peer Bouher in the following elegant nes-
Inrelrx pebes Papiam Ebrardumque legebat
scripiaque barbarieis viz bene noIa 0etis,
In precio ftieraut Vguito Cathoiconque
Atque Mamotrecti semilatina lncs.
The Mamotrccton" here alluded to is properly the
1ds about ' the same time as the
I" Catholicon." At little later in lisO; q better
BasIe) OF ReuchD. Other dictionaries soon appeared
in plenty. chef among t9em ,he CGrPueo9Ia ,n
sarus Ciceronianu-" OF Nizorus. The great Roberus
stephauus at last having undertaken to edit new ed-
terinned wholly reconstruct H. and after two years
inccssant study especially OF Plauus and Terence,
Ths celebrated lexicon the foundation, ID fact OF all
similar works for than two centuries to come con-
talned grand innovation OF adding French transa-
lions to OF the Latin words. IL might. indeed have
Sn hs IT, = 10 Ss 90 S
the twelfth century; consequently we find TOO many
SSh sSd oser meros exrscrs ns ro% the 90 to sS
iron age OF Latlnity These are retained even IN the
edition Of 1875, but improvements other respects
were attempted each successive edition In the third,
for instance O 1913, the quantities OF the sylables
for the Hrst time marked and much assistance
was afterward given to editors by Basil Faber's The
saurus Erudonis scholastica" published IN 1871.
Meanwhile English scholars had not been idle As carly
gish dictionary Tnis was edited II 1852 by
n Cos per- Master of Maghalen College School. and in
1854 Cooper himself published much larger and ini-
proved work Little appears TO have been done IN the
OF Latin In the seventeenth century,
but the latter half OF the eighteenth shows exraordi
renewal OF activity Gesners Thesauru founded
ON Stepbensl Ernestis Claws dceroDana,' FCrcelli-
nPs huge dictionary, aud lastly schellers appeared III
quick success zee, on on; Near the hegiGnng .i, Of this
pendIous lexicon for the OF the British Nation,
the litepage nirumposn'y mentions ana upon
more than my YEAR. ln 1884 pr wiine,m Frennd
bnch" upon which all the modern dicon-
aries based The late Professor Key.we believe left
known Cambridge scholar and n still greater one is
promised, IN the remote future, from oxford.
The work before us is much enlarged and i'm
originally published In 1881. AS 10 the enlargement
any rate, idea be formed from the iact that
the new book contains about 400 pages More than the
Old of the and type. IL consists, imct OF
2.ols pages OF which, as the preface Informs The
Columbia College, u g. Mr. Lewis being responsible for
the remainder. Much assistance was given 10 the
cies and made about two thousand additions, aud by
was needed are sufficiently obvious. The
sy sdvss Ssy pu1s v'
archaeology, and especially philology, aud good die.
tonary must incorporate the results obtained by
thousand investigators all these fields our editors
have at all events reference TO the book will show,
labor in collecting from every source available new
matter
The first addition that appears is photographed
index taken from Branbachs aids TO Latin Ortho-
graphy." We notice In looking through this list that
The spclngs recommended accord generally with those
which Mr. Munro and bis followers have accustomed
In some words. however. even those respecting
which Mr. Munro Is most positive, the instructions
gwen differ. Thus we are told 10 write rugus. not
rolgus Qereia rather than quereia hough quota
tionsry itself hems Is preferred 10 hlemps ento 10
tempto II may be that the editors have carefully con-
sdered the question OF photography, but upon this
point, for part, inclined 10 side with Mr.
Munro. The list Of authors which follows is much en-
srgcd both by tho fuller enumeration OF their works
and by the addition OF many new names, ranging n
CiDclus Aimeutus, B C. 210 down TO Dracoutius A. D.
400. In the lexicon teelf the improvements
10 defy quotation, both fon their length and their
trinsc character. New words added a. flower
rfboD, and happy quotations ESPECIALLY
ticeable those from the Juiisconsults q. rub roce
more carefully Differentiated and arranged