Lexĭcon
（
λεξικόν, sc.
βιβλίον). A
Greek name for a word-book, probably first used in the ninth century A.D. The Latin equivalent
dictionarium appears about three centuries later. Chinese writers
pretend that lexicons have been known in their language for 3000 years. But the conception of
a condensed digest of a branch of knowledge, classified and ordered for convenient reference,
is traced by authentic records to that source of all ideas which have been fruitful of
intellectual growth, the great age of Greece. In Plato's time, the Homeric poems were a
text-book for the study of the youth of Athens, and collections of peculiar words and phrases,
with explanations, were made for the use of teachers. At first the notes were written in the
order of the text, but convenience soon dictated other arrangements, by subjects or by
alphabetical sequence. Before B.C. 400 Democritus of Abdera discussed the vocabulary of Homer,
and is even said to have compiled an Homeric dictionary. Clearchus of Soli, a pupil of
Aristotle, prepared a treatise on the mathematical terms in Plato's
Republic.
Near the end of the fourth century B.C., Philetas of Cos, celebrated as a poet by Theocritus
and Propertius, wrote a famous book,
ἄτακτα or
γλῶσσαι, on the meanings of words,
especially of poetical and dialectic forms. His successors of the Alexandrian school of
grammarians industriously compiled special dictionaries or glossaries, now to particular
authors, as Homer, Plato, and the dramatists, now of the language of tragedy or comedy, again
of dialectic conceptions, which encroached on the province of good Attic words, and even of
the technical terms of particular arts. Thus Zenodotus of Ephesus, about B.C. 280, prepared an
elaborate glossary (
γλῶσσαι) to Homer; Artemidorus of
Byzantium soon after made a dictionary of cookery (
γλῶσσαι
ὀψαρτυτικαί); and scores of others collected extensive word-lists of Plato's
writings, of tragedy, of comedy, of history, of medicine. Didymus of Alexandria, an
indefatigable compiler of the first century B.C., published at least twentyeight
“books” (rolls?) on tragic diction (
περὶ
τραγῳδουμένης λέξεως), a work of similar extent on the language of comedy, seven
“books” on words of ambiguous or doubtful meaning, and a treatise on
corrupt expressions. Pollux and Athenaeus name twenty-one writers on terms peculiar to
cookery. In short, through the many generations of grammatical activity which succeeded the
creative period of Greek literature, the interpretation of words assumed ever greater
prominence, until Zopyrion and Pamphilus, near the end of the reign of Augustus, attempted to
bring together the rich materials thus furnished, in a comprehensive lexicon of the language
(95 books,
περὶ γλωσσῶν). An abridgment of this great work
by Diogenianus of Heraclea (A.D. 130?) is said, on doubtful authority, to have been the basis
of the dictionary ascribed to Hesychius of Alexandria (A.D. 380?), which is a principal source
of information upon the Greek language and literature
(best ed. by Moritz Schmidt, 4
vols. 4to, Jena, 1858-64). The important lexicon called that of Suidas, and ascribed
to the eleventh century, is a miscellany of lexicographical and literary excerpts and comments
made by many hands in successive ages
(best editions by Gaisford, 3 vols. fol., Oxford,
1834; by Bernhardy, 4to, Halle, 1834). The first attempt systematically to explain
Greek words in Latin was perhaps the glossary of Philoxenus, A.D. 550 (first printed, fol.,
Paris, 1573, included in Valpy's ed. of Stephens'
Thesaurus, London, 1816), but
for 800 years afterwards the Greek language was almost forgotten in Catholic Europe.
Upon the revival of learning an earnest demand for such helps was felt, and old vocabularies
and glossaries were eagerly copied and enlarged. In 1483 the first Greek-Latin vocabulary was
printed, that of John Crastenus. It passed through several editions, growing in size. In 1497
appeared a much more important work from the press of Aldus, Venice (
Dictionarium
Graecum Copiosissimum cum Interp. Lat.), and was rapidly followed by similar lexicons
in the names of Julius Pollux, Budaeus, Münster, Gillius, Gessner, Grynaeus,
Dasypodius, Constantine, and others. Each of these copied most of his work from his latest
predecessor, but often with important, though irregular additions. Thus the dictionary of
Budaeus
(first published at Paris, 1529; reprinted at Basle, 1530; reëdited and
much enlarged by Robert Stephens, Paris, 1548) was copious and exact in explaining
legal and forensic terms. Montanus, in 1539, gave to scholars the first Latin-Greek
vocabulary, for use in writing Greek. Robert Constantine's lexicon (Geneva, 1562: a marked
improvement on earlier ones in accuracy) was especially valuable in illustrations of
Thucydides. But in 1572 Henry Stephens published his
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
(5 vols. fol., Paris), containing more than 100,000 Greek words, with references to
authorities; a work of surpassing industry and scholarship, which remained unrivalled for
nearly 250 years. It was reproduced in magnificent form, and with additions, by Valpy (London,
1816 foll.), and again by Hase and Dindorf (Paris, 1836 foll.). The Greek manuals of Scapula
(Paris, 1579), Hederich
(2 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1766), and others,
in common use until the early years of this century, were hardly more than extracts of the
great
Thesaurus. Several special lexicons, however, such as those of Portus to
Herodotus
(Frankfort, 1603; reprinted London, 1825) and to Pindar
(1606), of Seber to Homer
(1604), of Damm to Homer and Pindar
(1765- 1774), of Ernesti for the technical terms of rhetoric
(1795), of Reiske to Theocritus
(1765), of Sturz to Xenophon
(1801-4), of Schweighäuser to Herodotus
(1824), and of
Wyttenbach to Plutarch
(Oxford, 1843), collected the results of more accurate
criticism in parts of the field. The first general lexicon which exhibited a marked
improvement upon Stephens in method, and the first which defined Greek words in a modern
language, was the critical Greek-German lexicon of Schneider
(2 vols. 8vo,
1797-98). It passed through three editions, besides abridgments, and was then
reconstructed with admirable skill by Passow
(1819-23). The latest revision of
Passow's
Handwörterbuch, by Rost and five well-equipped associates
(3 vols. 4to, 1841- 1857), is still the standard of Greek exegesis in Germany,
though the rival works of Pape
(1842- 1845; 3d ed. by Sengebusch, 1880), of
Jacobitz and Seiler
(1839-46), and of Suhle and Schneidewin
(Leipzig,
1875), have peculiar merits and strong eulogists. Students whose mother-tongue was
English had no trustworthy general dictionary of Greek until 1848, when Liddell and Scott
published at Oxford their Greek-English lexicon, drawn mainly from Passow; which was improved
and enlarged, first by Drisler
(N. Y. 1850), and later by the original editors,
aided by several American scholars, so that it now renders the student for most purposes
independent of the
Thesaurus and of special lexicons to the Greek classics
(7th ed. London and New York, 1883). Of such special lexicons, the most complete
and accurate are Ast's dictionary to Plato
(3 vols. Leipzig, 1835-38),
Bétant's to Thucydides
(2 vols. 1843-49), the index of Bonitz to
Aristotle
(Berlin, 1870), the Lexicon Sophocleum of Ellendt
(best ed.
Berlin, 1872), Bindseil's Concordantia to Pindar
(1875), the Lexicon
Aeschyleum of Dindorf
(1876), the Lexicon Theocriteum
(1879), the
Lexicon Pindaricum
(1883) of Rumpel, and, above all, the Lexicon Homericum of
Capelle and several associates
(1874-83).
The lexicography of the Greek Testament and of ecclesiastical writers has long formed a
distinct and very extensive branch of the science, important epochs in which have been marked
by Pasor's
Lexicon Graec.-Lat. in
Novum Testamentum (1636;
best ed. by Fischer, Leipzig, 1767); Suicer's
Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus
(Amsterdam, 1682; often reprinted and abridged); Wahl's
Clavis Novi
Testamenti (1819; translated by Robinson, New York, 1825; best ed. Leipzig,
1853);
Schirlitz, Griech.-deutsches Wörterbuch zum N. T.
(1851-58); Robinson's
Lexicon of the New
Testament (New York, 1836; rewritten, New York, 1850); Cremer's
Biblisches-theologisches Wörterb. (3d and best ed. Gotha,
1881-82); Grimm's
Lexicon zum Neuen Testament (Leipzig, 1862-68;
best ed. 1879); translated and much improved by Thayer
(New York, 1887).
The Glossary of later and Byzantine Greek, by Sophocles
(Cambridge, 1860),
enlarged into a Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods
(Boston, 1870),
is the standard in its department. By far the most complete and useful English-Greek lexicon
is that by Yonge
(London, 1849; best ed. New York, 1870).
The beginnings of Latin lexicography are ascribed to Verrius Flaccus, whom Augustus made the
tutor of his grandsons. His great work,
De Significatu Verborum, is supposed to
have been abridged, some generations later, by Pompeius Festus, under the same title; and
extensive fragments of the abridgment, besides unintelligent excerpts from it by Paulus
Diaconus of the eighth century, are still preserved
(best ed. by C. O. Müller,
Leipzig, 1839; reprinted 1880). There are also curious remnants of verbal exegesis in
the fragments of Nonius Marcellus
(about A.D. 300; best eds. by Mercier, Leipzig, 1825;
by Quicherat, Paris, 1871) and of Isidore
(A.D. 600; best ed. by Arevalo, 7
vols. Rome, 1797-1803). Glossaries and vocabularies were common in the ages before
printing; but were compiled as needed, copied, abridged, corrected, and enlarged, according to
the knowledge or ignorance of each new compiler, or the special need to be met. None of them
were regarded as literary works, to be studied and preserved, in deference to the author's
authority, or in respect to his fame. Many of these remain in old libraries. One of the best,
a glossary of the ninth century, in the national library at Paris, has been admirably edited,
with a commentary containing the substance of twelve others, by Professor G. F. Hildebrand
(Göttingen, 1854). A learned description of the works of this class,
which were still unedited, was given by G. Löwe, in his
Prodromus
Glossariorum Latinorum (Leipzig, 1876), and much light was thrown by him upon
their origin and value. His project for a collection of the extant glossaries has been carried
on with energy since his death, under the auspices of the Royal Literary Society of Saxony, by
George Goetz, who has published four volumes (
Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum,
II., III., IV., V., 1886-94) of the nine which are necessary to complete it. These
vocabularies explained rare and obscure words, ambiguous terms, forms of doubtful authority,
or of dialectic or foreign origin; and it was but slowly that the conception was formed of a
complete vocabulary of the language. About A.D. 1063, Papias, the Lombard, finished his
Elementarium Doctrinae Erudimentum (printed, Venice, 1491),
intended for an encyclopaedia of instruction, a large part of which was devoted to defining
words. A century later the monk Osborn of Gloucester followed with the
Panorama, an attempt at an etymological dictionary (published in Mai's
Classicorum Auctorum, tom. viii. Rome, 1836). About A.D. 1200, Hugutio, Bishop
of Ferrara, wrote a
Liber Derivationum. On the works of Papias and Hugutio was
founded the famous
Catholicon, by Balbi of Genoa (Joannes Januensis), finished
A.D. 1286, and published at Mayence in 1460, containing, besides a manual of grammar,
rhetoric, and criticism, a copious lexicon, especially of ecclesiastical Latin. Johann
Reuchlin enlarged this in his
Vocabularius Breviloquus (Basle,
1475), which passed through twentythree editions, the last in 1504. The
Cornucopiae of Nicholas Perotti, though in form a commentary on Martial, is
lexicographical in substance, and has an alphabetic index (1482 and often). In 1502 appeared
at Reggio, in Italy, the
Dictionarium of Ambrosius Calepinus, the first attempt
to represent the classical language as a whole, with illustrative citations from the
literature. Its fame grew rapidly. For many years labourers in this department of learning
accepted it as a standard, and sought only to supply its omissions. Twenty editions were
published within a generation, and “Calepinus” became the common name for
a lexicon. In 1539 Jacobus Montanus added to the definitions the Greek equivalents. In 1546 a
Calepinus Pentaglottus was issued at Venice; in 1581 a Calepinus Septem Linguarum at Leyden;
and successive editors added new languages, until the Calepinus of 1603 was a parallel lexicon
of eleven. Meanwhile, in 1531, Robert Stephens,
princeps lexicographorum,
gave to the world his
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae; but used it as the basis of a
far more comprehensive and accurate work under the same title, which he completed in 1548.
This long remained the unrivalled storehouse of the language, and every important dictionary
of classical Latin was substantially a reprint
(3 vols. Venice, 1551; 4 vols. Leyden,
1573), or an abridgment of it. From the first edition was compiled the
Promptuarium of Trebellius
(Basle, 1545); from the second, the
extensive
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae of Caelius Secundus
(Basle,
1561), the useful
Thesaurus of Faber Soranus
(Leipzig, 1571; 2d
ed. 1587; abridged, Leipzig, 1594, and Heidelberg, 1608), the
Lexicon
Criticum of Pareus
(Nuremberg, 1645), and many more. The most important
original work of this period in lexicography was the
Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediae et
Infimae Latinitatis of DuCange
(Paris, 1678), which has been several
times reprinted
(ed. by Hendschel, 7 vols. Paris, 1840- 1850; ed. by Favre, 10 vols.
Niort, 1883-88; a good abridgment by Migne, Paris, 1866; and very important supplements by
Diefenbach, Frankfurt, 1857 and 1867). (See
DuCange.) An association of Cambridge scholars reëdited the great
Thesaurus, at the end of its second century of preëminence, with
large additions
(4 vols. London, 1734-35). Antony Birrius recovered the
collections Henry Stephens had made for a new edition of his father's work, and surpassed the
English reprint in the accuracy of his reproduction
(4 vols. Basle, 1740-43).
Finally, J. M. Gessner, after preparing an enlarged edition of Faber
(Leipzig,
1726), spent twelve years in revising the
Thesaurus of Stephens,
correcting and completing its classical citations, while excluding much ecclesiastical and
semi-barbarous material
(4 vols. Leipzig, 1749). But in Italy, Calepinus retained
the primacy, undergoing many revisions and enlargements before that of Sartori
(Padua,
1708), which brought its imperfections to the notice of two of the most eminent
Latinists of the day, then at the University of Padua. With the supervision and aid of
Facciolati, his pupil Forcellini devoted three years to its correction and extension
(
Septem linguarum Calepinus, hoc est Lexicon Latinum, variarum linguarum
interpretatione adiecta, Pavia, 1718), and his important edition was eleven times
reprinted. The last appearances of this lexicon, which held its place in
the schools for nine generations, were at Venice, 1778, and at Pavia, 1779. But Forcellini's
labours on Calepinus taught him the need of a more perfect dictionary, and he undertook to
construct it mainly from the original texts. For forty years, with some interruptions from
church-work, he toiled, with rare intelligence and persistence; and at his death, in 1768,
left complete in manuscript the greatest contribution to this department of science ever
achieved by a single hand (
Totius Latinitatis Lexicon, 2 vols. fol. Padua,
1771). It has been several times reprinted (4 vols. Padua, 1805, etc.), sometimes with
uncritical additions
(ed. Bailey, London, 1827; ed. Schumann, Schneeberg, 1835),
sometimes with diligence and literary skill
(ed. Furnaletti, 4 vols. 4to, Padua,
1827-33; ed. De Vit, 5 vols. fol. Prato, 1858-75); but none of these editions has
conformed the citations to the improved critical texts of the classical authors. The latest
(ed. Corradini, Padua, 1864, completed to the word stellio, 1894) is
by far the best in this respect, though still defective in etymology and arrangement.
Scheller's Latin-German Lexicon
(Leipzig, 1783) was at first an abridgment of
Forcellini's, but was rapidly improved by the compiler in successive editions
(3d ed. 5
vols. Leipzig, 1804). His condensed hand-lexicon
(Leipzig, 1792) was
reëdited many times by Lünemann, aided in the seventh edition
(Leipzig, 1831) by Georges, who issued the eighth edition
(Leipzig,
1837) alone, and then reconstructed the work, under his own name, in the
Ausführliches Handwörterbuch der lateinischen Sprache, whose
seventh edition
(Leipzig, 1879-80) is the reliance and the delight of all who
study Latin through German, though it omits, in most cases, specific local references to
texts. Klotz's
Handwörterbuch der lateinischen Sprache (2 vols.
Brunswick, 1853-57) is distinguished for fulness of illustration in many articles,
especially under the earliest letters of the alphabet; but it was hastily finished, and is
defective in uniformity and in typographical accuracy. Freund's
Handwörterbuch (4 vols. Leipzig, 1834), also founded on
Forcellini, introduced a principle, the historical arrangement of meanings in each article,
which has since been fruitful in all departments of lexicography. A revised translation by
Andrews
(New York, 1850), substantially reprinted as Dr. Smith's Latin Dictionary
(London, 1853), was for many years the standard in the United States and Great
Britain. An enlarged translation into French by Theil
(2 vols. Paris, 1866) is
valuable for its full notices of terms of natural history. The same work was revised and
enlarged by Riddle and White
(London, 1870), and entirely reconstructed by Lewis
and Short
(Harper's Latin Dictionary, New York, 1879). The best English-Latin
dictionary is that of Smith and Hall
(London, 1870; New York, 1871); the most
complete and critical work in which a modern language is explained in Latin is the
Deutsches-latein. Wörterbuch of Georges
(6th ed. 2 vols.
Leipzig, 1870). In recent years German scholars have shown new zeal in constructing
complete word-books (concordances) to Latin classics. Merguet's
Lexicon zu den
Reden des Cicero (4 vols. 4to, Jena, 1877-84) has been followed by the full
dictionaries to Caesar of Merguet
(Jena, 1884- 1886), Menge and Preuss
(Leipzig, 1884-90), and Meusel
(Berlin, 1884-93); by that of Preuss
to the pseudo-Caesarian books of Hirtius and others
(Erlangen, 1884); while
complete verbal indexes to the fragments of Plautus, the works of Sallust, and those of
several minor poets have been added to recent editions of the texts. A complete lexicon to the
philosophical writings of Cicero by Merguet (Jena, vols. i. ii. 1887-93, vol. iii. in the
press), one by Gerber and Greef to Tacitus
(fasciculi i. to xi. Leipzig,
1887-93), and one on an enormous scale to Livy by Fügner
(fasciculi i.
to vi. Leipzig, 1889-94) are slowly appearing. The principles and methods of
constructing a complete thesaurus of the language have been actively discussed in Germany for
two generations. In 1857 the king of Bavaria offered to contribute 10,000 gulden if the
completion of such a work could be insured; Carl Halm of Munich, with Ritschl and Fleckeisen,
undertook to organize an association of scholars, and Bücheler was selected as
editor-in-chief; but political and military troubles smothered the scheme. The critical
restoration of many texts, the reform of orthography, the multiplication of special lexicons,
and the great advances made in philology and in the study of inscriptions have since vastly
increased and improved the materials available for a
Thesaurus. In 1884 E.
Wölfflin announced his
Archiv für lateinische Lexicographie und
Grammatik . . . als Vorarbeit zu einem Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, and under the
patronage of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences began its publication in quarterly numbers,
containing collections, notices, reviews, and model articles, as contributions to the most
complete digest of a great language ever planned. With the aid of many competent scholars,
this periodical has been continued through eight years, and has done much to awaken interest
in the subject. The last number for 1893 contained a plan,
zur Begründung
eines Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, in twelve volumes of 1000 large quarto pages each,
under the auspices of the five great academies of science in Berlin, Göttingen,
Leipzig, Munich, and Vienna, to be finished in twenty years, at an estimated cost of 605,000
marks (about $150,000). The five academies have sanctioned the plan, with Messrs.
Bücheler, Wölfflin, and Leo as editorial directors, and there is reasonable
hope of its success.
See also Gräfenhan,
Gesch. d. klassischen Philologie im Alterthum, 3
vols. (1843 foll.); Mahn,
Darstellung der Lexicographie nach allen ihren
Seiten (Rudolstadt, 1817); Hübner,
Grundriss zu
Vorlesungen über die latein. Grammatik (2d ed. Berlin, 1880), and
Grundriss zu Vorlesungen über Gr. Syntax (Berlin,
1883);
Lexicographie der griechischen und lateinischen Sprache, by Drs.
G. Autenrieth and F. Heerdegen (in Iwan Müller's
Handbuch,
Nördlingen, 1885);
Pökel, Philolog.
Schriftsteller-lexicon (1882); Ebert,
Allgemeine Gesch. der Literatur
des Mittelalters im Abendlande, 2 vols.
(Leipzig, 1884, 1880); De Vit,
Preface to the Lexicon of Forcellini (Prato, 1879);
Wölfflin,
Archiv für latein. Lexicographie (Leipzig,
1884-93); “Greek Lexicography,” by J. E. B. Mayor, in the
Journal of Philology, vols. vi., vii.
(Cambridge, 1876-77);
“Notes on Latin Lexicography,” by H. Nettleship,
Journal of
Philology, vol. xii.
(Cambridge, 1883).
