Around twenty ancient and medieval\u00a0lexicons\/dictionaries\/glossaries\/encyclopedias of Greek words and their meanings have reached us, plus quite a number of minor lexica.\u00a0 These works contain lists of Greek words, often dialect or otherwise unusual.\u00a0 In many cases they are concerned with advising the reader how to write Attic Greek correctly.<\/p>\n
The works exist because, after the classical period, the Greek language changed and terminology in classical authors could be a problem.\u00a0 In the Roman period there was a fashion for writing the Attic Greek of 500 years earlier, and this fashion remained until 1453.\u00a0 Consequently authors needed guidebooks on Attic usage.<\/p>\n
Modern scholars are interested in these works because they preserve invaluable historical insight into the ancient world.\u00a0 Every classicist will sooner or later need to refer to Hesychius, for instance.\u00a0 The entries frequently preserve valuable historical information, which reaches us in no other way, not least because – unlike modern dictionaries – they include proper names, and attempt to identify the persons concerned.<\/p>\n
The works are structured in generally the same way.\u00a0 A word is given, followed by another word or words to explain it.\u00a0 Sometimes a paragraph of explanation is involved.\u00a0 Sometimes the authors who used the word are given.\u00a0 Sometimes we are given a quotation from that author.\u00a0 As most of ancient Greek literature is lost, these fragments are valuable.\u00a0 The lexicon also often incidentally contains material of historical interest on the classical period.<\/p>\n
Most of the works have been damaged, interpolated, or revised in transmission.\u00a0 The tendency to copy from one into another means that material in two lexica may not be independent.<\/p>\n
A survey of the extant texts can be found in Eleanor Dickey’s marvellous compendium of precise information,\u00a0Ancient Greek Scholarship<\/em>, p.87-103, which should be on the shelves of every Classicist, Byzantinist, and scholar of patristics or late antiquity.\u00a0 What follows is a drastically abbreviated version of Dickey.\u00a0 For bibliography use Dickey.\u00a0 I only indicate where the text may be found.<\/p>\n The most important lexica are the Lexicon of Hesychius, and the “Suda”.<\/p>\n According to Hesychius’ prologue (below), lexicography begins with the creation of glossaries of unusual or obscure words.\u00a0 Such glosses were compiled\u00a0for a specific author, such as Homer; or\u00a0for specific genres like Tragedy or Comedy.\u00a0\u00a0 These were known as glossai<\/em>, and later as lexeis<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 A writer (from 1839! use with caution) states:<\/p>\n The very names now given to works of the kind were unknown to the ancients. Glossarium<\/em> first appears in the writings of Aulus Gellius; but from the context of the passage where it occurs, it cannot be inferred to have been used by him to denote “a book of glosses,” nor probably did it acquire that signification till some centuries after. Lexicon<\/em> is, I believe, found for the first time in the Etymologicon Magnum<\/em>, a compilation of which the author is unknown, but its age is ascertained not to reach farther back than the tenth century. Dictionarium<\/em> and Vocabularium<\/em> are terms of still later introduction.1<\/a><\/sup> (Wall, p.113)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The lexica are referenced differently to most ancient works.\u00a0 They are organised as a series of words, with material about each word, and these words are usually in alphabetical order.\u00a0 So a reference is to an entry.\u00a0 For each entry we give the first letter of the word, followed by the number.\u00a0 So Alpha 5 is the fifth word beginning with Alpha.\u00a0 It is usually best to include the edition used as well (e.g. Pi 123, Adler).\u00a0 Examples will be found below for entries in the Suda<\/em>.<\/span> Aristophanes of Byzantium (ca. 257-180 BC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Aristophanes of Byzantium was one of the most important Alexandrian scholars, and the teacher of Aristarchus.\u00a0 He is credited with inventing the symbols for the Greek accents, and also critical signs for editing texts.\u00a0 He produced editions of the classical authors Homer, Hesiod, etc.\u00a0 He also produced or inspired the hypotheses<\/em>, the summaries prefixed in the manuscripts to tragedies and comedies, which contain valuable information about the production of each play.\u00a0 He seems to have been the first to divide lyric texts into verses, rather than writing them as prose.<\/p>\n Aristophanes\u00a0produced a glossary-work which he called Lexeis<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0The work was in several sections, such as “On words suspected of not having been said by the ancients” (i.e. post-classical words), “On the names of ages” (i.e. terms used to designate men, women, and animals of different ages), and “On kinship terms.”<\/p>\n Hundreds of fragments of it exist in other works, plus fragments transmitted directly in manuscripts.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: A. Nauck,\u00a0Aristophanis Byzantii grammatici Alexandrini fragmenta<\/em>, Halle, 1848 (= TLG; online<\/a>); W.J. Slater,\u00a0Aristophanis Byzantii Fragmenta<\/em>, Berlin, 1986, with\u00a0some of the most important\u00a0material, discovered later than Nauck.\u00a0 Slater is the standard text.<\/p>\n Diogenianus (2nd c. AD)<\/strong><\/p>\n Hesychius tells us that the first attempt, to unite the pre-existing single-author glossaries\u00a0into a unfied work covering all authors, in alphabetical order, was that of Diogenianus.2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 According to the Suda<\/em> (below),\u00a0he lived in the time of Hadrian.\u00a0 But the Suda also states that even this was an epitome of a pre-existing compilation by Pamphilus and Zopyrion:<\/p>\n Of the other Heraclea, not in Pontus. Grammarian. He too lived under the emperor Hadrian. The possibility has to be considered that he is the doctor from Albace Heraclea in Caria, since he was an expert on literature in general; for I have not found it stated explicitly that he was from Heraclea in Pontus, though that is the opinion of some. His books are as follows: Miscellaneous Lexicon, alphabetically arranged, in 5 books – this is an epitome of Pamphilus’ Lexicon in 405 books and of Zopyrion’s; Anthology of Epigrams; On rivers, harbours, springs, mountains [and] mountain ridges; On Rivers, alphabetically arranged, a description in epitome; Collection and Table of Cities throughout the World; and so on.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The lexicon as a whole is lost, but it was the basis for the lexicon of Hesychius (see below).\u00a0 However some papyrus fragments exist: PSI<\/em>4<\/a><\/sup> viii. 892; POxy<\/em>. 47, 3329; a fragment on dialect glosses published by Latte in 19245<\/a><\/sup>; and numerous fragments in scholia.<\/p>\n Aelius Dionysius and Pausanias (early 2nd c. AD)<\/strong><\/p>\n These two authors, otherwise unknown,\u00a0were the first to produce dictionaries of Attic.\u00a0 Each produced a work listing Attic words and phrases, and these survived until at least the 12th c.\u00a0\u00a0 Both are lost, but substantial fragments exist.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: H. Erbse,\u00a0“Untersuchungen zu den attizistischen Lexika” in: Abhandlungen der deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, philosophischhistorische Klasse<\/em>, Jahrgang 1949, Nr. 2.\u00a0 Berlin, 1950 (=TLG)<\/p>\n Herennius Philo (early 2nd c.) and ‘Ammonius’<\/strong><\/p>\n In the manuscripts is\u00a0a bunch of epitomes of lexica, all closely related to one another.\u00a0 One, De diversis verborum significationibus<\/em>,\u00a0is attributed to Herennius Philo, also known as Erenius Philo and Philo of Byblos; another to an unknown Ptolemy.\u00a0 All these seem to\u00a0be derived from a 2nd century lexicon by Herennius Philo, a well-known author of various non-lexical works in the late 1st \/ early 2nd century, notably the Phoenician History<\/em>, extant in fragments.\u00a0 Related to these is a larger lexicon, De adfinium vocabulorum differentia<\/em>, preserved under the name of “Ammonius”, otherwise unknown.\u00a0 It is most likely that all these texts are derived, in a longer or shorter from, from Herennius Philo’s lexicon. The work consists of pairs of words, which are similar, and explanations of the difference between them.\u00a0 The material is generally historically correct and occasionally very valuable.<\/p>\n The Suda<\/em> entry for him is as follows:<\/p>\n Philo of Byblos.Grammarian. He lived in the time of those near Nero, and survived a long while – at any rate, he says that Severus, surnamed Herennius, was consul when he was 78 years old, in the 220th Olympiad. He wrote On the Purchase and Selection of Books (12 books); On Cities and the Famous People Each of them Produced (30 books); On the Reign of Hadrian (under whom Philo lived); etc. Philo was consul, surnamed Herennius, as he himself says.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Editions<\/em>: For “Ammonius” =\u00a0K. Nickau, Ammonii qui dicitur liber de adfinium vocabulorum differentia<\/em>, Leipzig,\u00a01966 (= TLG); Epitome of Herennius = V. Palmieri, Herennius Philo: De diversis verborum significationibus<\/em>, Naples, 1988 (= TLG); Epitome of Ptolemy = G. Heylbut, “Ptolemaeus \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 <\/span>\u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u1fb6<\/span>\u03c2 \u03bb\u1f73<\/span>\u03be\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd”, Hermes<\/em> 22,\u00a01887, p.388-410 (online<\/a>); V. Palmieri, \u201cPtolemaeus (Ambrosianus qui dicitur) De differentia vocabulorum in litteram,” Annali della Facolt\u00e0 di Lettere e Filosofia dell\u2019Universit\u00e0 di Napoli<\/em> 24, \u00a01981-2, -33; K. Nickau, “Zur Geschichte der griechischen Synonymica: Ptolemaios und die Epitoma Laurentiana,” Hermes<\/em> 118, 1990,\u00a0253-6.<\/p>\n Harpocration (late 2nd c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Valerius Harpocration produced a glossary to the Attic orators.\u00a0 It is important as a source of fragments and unusually authentic historical information on classical Athens.\u00a0 It is one of the earliest surviving glossaries.\u00a0 The text survives in a number of late manuscripts, in a somewhat contaminated and abridged form known as the “full version”.\u00a0 An epitome of the 9th century also exists.\u00a0 There is also a papyrus fragment from the 2nd-3rd century (P.Ryl<\/em>. iii, 532), plus quotations in Photius and scholia.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: I. Bekker,\u00a0Harpocration et Moeris<\/em> (Berlin, 1833) here<\/a>; W. Dindorf,\u00a0Harpocrationis lexicon in decem oratores Atticos<\/em> (Oxford, 1853 = TLG) vol.1<\/a> and vol.2<\/a>; John J. Keaney,\u00a0Harpocration: Lexeis of the Ten Orators<\/em> (Amsterdam, 1991; but unreliable).<\/p>\n Julius Pollux (late 2nd c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Pollux (or Polydeuces) of Naucratis was a rhetorician of the time of Commodus, to whom he dedicated his first book before the latter had become emperor.7<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 He compiled the Onomasticon <\/em>in ten books, which has come down to us in the form of an epitome, but one that has also been interpolated as well as abridged.\u00a0\u00a0 It is based on Classical works and Alexandrian scholarship.\u00a0 It is in topic order, rather than alphabetical, reflecting the original Greek approach to these things.\u00a0 It contains definitions, fragments of lost works, better readings of extant works, and much historical information, such as a famous discussion of the classical theatre and the 78 different types of masks in use for different characters in comedy, tragedy and in satyr plays.<\/p>\n The Suda<\/em> entry for him is as follows:<\/p>\n Polydeuces of Naucratis. Some write that the sophist was from Ardyenna, but they are joking:\u00a0 Ardyenna [is] a city of Phoenicia. He taught in Athens under the emperor Commodus, and died aged 58, having composed the following books: Onomasticon (10 books: it is a collection of different words for the same thing); informal discourses, or talks; declamations; epithalamium to Caesar Commodus; Roman Speech; Trumpet, or Musical Contest; Against Socrates; Against the People of Sinope; Panellenic Speech; Arcadian Speech; and so on.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Editions<\/em>: E. Bethe, Pollucis Onomasticon<\/em>, Leipzig, 1900-37 (=TLG). Series: Lexicographi graeci<\/em> vol. 9. (Vol.1<\/a>; vol.2<\/a>; vol.3<\/a>).<\/p>\n The anti-atticist (late 2nd c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is an anonymous 2nd century lexicon which is not anti-atticist, but simply uses a wider definition of Attic than most.\u00a0 It is extant in a very reduced form.\u00a0 Originally it listed Attic words, defined them and gave quotations, but most of the latter have gone.\u00a0 It is still useful to identify lost works, historical details about Athens, and fragments of Alexandrian scholarship, as well as details of the 2nd century controversies.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: Bekker, Anecdota Graeca<\/em>, 1814-21, vol.1, p.75-116 (=TLG; online<\/a>). This contains the first edition of many Greek scholarly works.<\/p>\n Phrynichus Arabius (late 2nd c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Two works by this extreme Atticist rhetorician survive.\u00a0 His Praeparatio sophistica<\/em> was originally in 37 books; an epitome and fragments survive.\u00a0 The work is a collection of obscure words, and is discussed by Photius.\u00a0 His Ecloga<\/em> in 2 books is more or less complete, and two short epitomes of it also survive.\u00a0 It consists of a list of “bad” words, usually koine<\/em>, and the Attic equivalent, together with pronouncements on Attic and non-Attic usage.\u00a0 It is useful as a guide to the kind of mistakes 2nd century writers were liable to make in trying to write Attic Greek.\u00a0 He makes use of the anti-atticist lexicon.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: PS<\/em> = J. Borries, Phrynichi sophistae Praeparatio sophistica<\/em>, Leipzig, 1911 (=TLG).\u00a0 Ecloga =<\/em>\u00a0E. Fischer, Die Ekloge des Phrynichos<\/em>, Berlin, 1974 (=TLG).\u00a0 English summary and discussion of findings in Slater’s review of it in Gnomon<\/em> 49, 1977,\u00a0258-62.<\/p>\n Moeris (3rd c.?)<\/strong><\/p>\n A lexicon containing almost a thousand entries alphabetised by the first letter, consisting of “this is Attic, but the other Greeks use that”.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: D. Hansen, Das attizistische Lexikon des Moeris<\/em>, Berlin, SGLG 9, 1998.<\/p>\n Philemon (3-2 c. BC) and Philemon (ca. 200 AD)<\/strong><\/p>\n A glossographer named Philemon lived in the 3rd-2nd century BC and wrote a gloss on Attic words.\u00a0 It is lost but fragments survive in Athenaeus, and in ‘Ammonius’.\u00a0 Another Philemon of the same name (neither related to any other person of the same name) lived ca. 200 AD and composed a work in iambics, of which two brief extracts survive.\u00a0 These consist of lists of non-Attic words and their equivalents.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em> (of the second writer):\u00a0 Frag. 1 = R. Reitzenstein,\u00a0Geschichte der griechischen Etymologika: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Philologie in Alexandria und Byzanz<\/em>, Leipzig, 1897, p. 392\u20136.; Frag. 2 = F.G. Osann,\u00a0Philemonis grammatici quae supersunt<\/em>, 1821.\u00a0 Study<\/em>: L. Cohn, “Der Atticist Philemon,” Philologus<\/em>, 57 (1898) p.353\u201367.<\/p>\n Orus and Orion (5th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n These two\u00a0grammarians are confused even in the Byzantine period, and the confusion continues to modern times.\u00a0 Both wrote a number of scholarly works.<\/p>\n Orus was born in Alexandria, lived in Constantinople, and is associated with Miletus for unknown reasons.\u00a0\u00a0 Four works survive. (1) An Attic lexicon, aimed at distinguishing classical from koine, rather than Attic as such.\u00a0 It was written in opposition to Phrynichus, and is based on classical sources.\u00a0 But it is extant only in fragments, mainly from the lexicon of Zonaras. (2)\u00a0A manual on orthography, of which we possess a substantial excerpt on the use of the iota subscript.\u00a0 It gives a list of words (all from the second half of the alphabet), and indicates whether\u00a0each uses it or not.\u00a0Each is often accompanied by a quotation from a classical work, sometimes lost, and fragments of earlier scholarship. (3)\u00a0A short treatise on words with several meanings, preserved in excerpts. (4) Another short treatise, on ethnic names, gathered from Stephanus and the Etymologicum genuinum<\/em>.<\/p>\n Only one of the works of Orio(n) of Thebes survives, an etymological lexicon in alphabetical order.\u00a0 This exists in three abbreviated versions, one of considerable bulk, the others known as the Werfer and the Koes excerpts.\u00a0It preserves much earlier scholarship, including portions of Aristonicus on Homer.\u00a0 We also have fragments of a florilegium by Orion.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: Orus: (1) Alpers, Das attizistische Lexikon des Oros: Untersuchung und kritische Ausgabe <\/em>der Fragmente<\/em> (Berlin; SGLG 4), 1981 (in TLG). (2) H. Rabe, “Lexicon Messanense de iota ascripto,” in:\u00a0Rheinisches Museum<\/em> 47 (1892),. p.404-13. (TLG).\u00a0 (3, 4) R. Reitzenstein, Geschichte der griechischen Etymologika: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Philologie in Alexandria und Byzanz<\/em>, 1897, p.316-35 and 335-47.\u00a0 Orion: F.W. Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum<\/em>,\u00a01818, p.611-17 (=Werfer excerpts); and: F.W. Sturz, Orionis Thebani Etymologicon<\/em>,\u00a01820 (=Koes extracts).\u00a0 [The long version is supposedly also published in Sturz, but I don’t see it.]<\/p>\n Cyrillus (5th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Numerous manuscripts exist of a lexicon attributed to Cyrillus, or Cyril, and material from it has also been interpolated into Hesychius.\u00a0 The Cyril in question is probably intended to be Cyril of Alexandria, and may have had some association with him.\u00a0 The lexicon contains mainly biblical glosses – words and explanations. \u00a0But there is also classical material. \u00a0Most of it is unpublished.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: A. B. Drachmann, Die \u00dcberlieferung des Cyrillglossars,<\/em> Copenhagen, 1936 in: Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filologiske Meddelelser<\/em> 21.5. (excerpts only); J.A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecae regiae Parisiensis<\/em>, Oxford, 1839-41, vol. 4, 177-201 (only a very abbreviated version).<\/p>\n Hesychius of Alexandria (5-6th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the most important of the lexica.\u00a0 A corrupt, abridged and interpolated\u00a015th century manuscript in Venice (Marc. xxxx) is the sole witness to\u00a0a text by an otherwise unknown Hesychius of Alexandria.\u00a0 The prefatory letter tells us that it is based on the 2nd century lexicon of Diogenianus (now lost), but supplemented from other lost lexical writers including Aristarchus, Heliodorus, Apion and Herodian.<\/p>\n It consists of a list of poetic and dialect words, phrases and short proverbs.\u00a0 It includes proper names.\u00a0 Each word is followed by a high-point, and then some words which are equivalent, or abbreviated from the original explanation by Hesychius.\u00a0 The words themselves are given in the inflected form, complete with prefix\u00a0– the one in which they appeared in the text from which the original lexicographer extracted them -, not the base form, and in alphabetical order based on the first three letters.\u00a0 Thus an entry\u00a0should be referenced as “a 1234 (Latte)” which would be the 1234th word under alpha in the edition of Latte.\u00a0 (References are sadly often given in much less helpful forms).<\/p>\n The work was severely abridged, omitting most indications of sources for the words.\u00a0 In addition about 33% of the entries are interpolated from the lexicon of Cyrillus (see below), or from other sources.\u00a0 These interpolations are early, since the Cyrillus material was already present by the 8th century.<\/p>\n The opening words of the preface were translated long ago by Wall9<\/a><\/sup>, and are as follows:<\/p>\n Hesychius, a grammarian of Alexandria, to his companion Eulogius, greeting.\u2014Many others also collected in the order of the letters the ‘words’ of the Ancients, O most beloved Eulogius: some, however, those only of Homer, as Apion, and Apollonius, son of Archibius; some, those separately of the Comic, or those of the Tragic authors, as Theon and Didymus, and other such compilers; and no one, all the words of the different writers together. But after these arose a certain Diogenianus, a man of industry and taste, who, having brought together the forementioned books and all the words dispersed through all, united into one compilation in alphabetic order all of them; I mean, the Homeric, and the Comic, and the Tragic terms, and those which occur in the Lyric poets and in the Orators; nor these only, but also such as are to be found in the works of the Physicians and of the Historians. In short, no word, as far as we are aware of, did he omit, whether of the Ancients, or of the writers of his own time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Editions<\/em>: K. Latte, P. Hansen, I. Cunningham, Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon<\/em>\u00a0(4 vols).\u00a0 The previous best edition was by M. Schmidt,\u00a0Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon<\/em> (1858-68 = TLG); vol.1 [\u0391-\u0394]<\/a>, 2, 3[\u039b-\u03a1]<\/a>, 4[\u03a3-\u03a9]<\/a>, 5<\/a>; the 1 volume editio minor<\/em> by Schmidt (1867) should be avoided.<\/p>\n Stephanus of Byzantium (6th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n A grammarian who taught in Constantinople in the 6th c. AD, he composed a gigantic geographical lexicon in more than 50 books, of which we have only an epitome, some fragments, plus a stray\u00a0set of 8 pages of the original text.\u00a0 Originally it gave detailed information of all kinds on place-names and ethnic names.\u00a0 Sources included Herodian, Orus, Pausanias, Strabo and some early Homeric scholia, plus many lost works.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: J. A. F. A. Meineke, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt<\/em>, Berlin, 1849 (=TLG).\u00a0 “Standard edition but not ideal”10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The Synagogue <\/em>(\u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u1f74 \u03bb\u1f73\u03be\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd \u03c7\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u1f77\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd) (8-9th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This lexicon is also known as the Lexicon Bachmannianum<\/em>, or the Lexicon Bekkeri VI<\/em>.\u00a0 It was originally based on the lexicon of Cyrillus, and other sources are also known.\u00a0 It was composed in the 8-9th c., but more material was added later.\u00a0 It is\u00a0often ignored, since it duplicates other material, and is interesting more as a guide to how lexica evolved than for its contents.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: I. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca<\/em>, vol.1, Leipzig, 1814, p.319ff. (online<\/a>); L. Bachmann, Anecdota<\/em>, vol. 1, Leipzig, 1828, p.3ff. (online<\/a>); I. Cunningham, Synagoge: \u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u1f74 \u03bb\u1f73\u03be\u03b5\u03c9\u03bd \u03c7\u03c1\u03b7\u03c3\u1f77\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd: Texts of the Original Version and of MS. B<\/em> (Berlin; SGLG 10), 2003.<\/p>\n Photius (9th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n Photius, patriarch of Constantinople and author of the Bibliotheca<\/em>, and many other works, also composed a large lexicon.\u00a0 It is mostly concerned with prose words.\u00a0 Some entries are\u00a0substantial paragraphs,\u00a0referencing\u00a0authors and quoting from them.\u00a0\u00a0The work\u00a0derives mainly from late lexica like Cyrillus, but indirectly preserves much earlier scholarship, such as Diogenianus, Aelius Dionysius and Pausanias.\u00a0 It is a source of fragments of lost works.\u00a0 Only part of the work was known until 1959 when a complete text was discovered in a monastery.\u00a0 This is not completely published, however.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: Theodoridis, Photii Patriarchae Lexicon<\/em>, 1982- (=TLG) has begun the new edition. Vol. 1 [Alpha – Delta] (Berlin, 1982) [limited preview<\/a>]; vol. 2 [Epsilon – Mu] (Berlin, 1998) [limited preview<\/a>].\u00a0 Of the older material, use R. Porson, Photii Lexicon e codice Galeano<\/em>, 1823 (=TLG. online<\/a>) rather than that of A. Nauck (1864-5).<\/p>\n Lexicon \u03b1\u1f31\u03bc\u03c9\u03b4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd (9-10th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a small lexicon, so called after its first entry “\u03b1\u1f31\u03bc\u03c9\u03b4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd”.\u00a0 Contains fairly detailed entries, based in part on lost scholarly material for which it is sometimes useful.<\/p>\n Editions:<\/em> Andrew R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici<\/em>, Berlin; SGLG 5, 1983-95, vol. 2, p.825-1016.<\/p>\n “Suidas” \/ “The Suda” (late 10th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Suda<\/em> is a huge dictionary\/encyclopedia, compiled in the late 10th century.\u00a0 From the 12th until the mid-20th century it was known as Suidae Lexicon<\/em>, “the lexicon of Suidas”, but it is now generally thought that the word \u03a3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03b4\u03b1<\/em> in the manuscripts is the title, not the author, although not everyone agrees.<\/p>\n The work\u00a0consists of around 30,000 entries of various sorts; some are definitions, some are articles like those of an encyclopedia.\u00a0 The work is ordered alphabetically by pronunciation (so vowels that sound the same are gathered together).\u00a0 It is related to the lexicon of Photius, and probably drew directly upon it.<\/p>\n The work is of great importance for our knowledge of antiquity because it is based on a vast array of lost sources.\u00a0 These sources are transcribed intact and are often identifiable.\u00a0\u00a0In the main they were lexica and other scholarly compilations of late antiquity, such as those of Harpocratian and Diogenianus.\u00a0 These in turn preserved scholarship from hellenistic and even classical times.\u00a0 The plays of Aristophanes and the scholia on them are especially well represented.\u00a0 It is a source of important historical and poetic fragments.<\/p>\n The work is particularly useful as a guide to classical and later writers since it includes material from a lost dictionary of literary biography by Hesychius of Miletus, and indeed states that it is an epitome of that work.11<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 In particular it is our main source for the titles of lost works, and how much various authors wrote.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: A. Adler, Suidae lexicon<\/em>, Leipzig, 1928-38 (=TLG);\u00a0The Suda Online<\/a>\u00a0(with English translation).<\/p>\n Byzantine Etymologica<\/strong><\/p>\n A number of very large, anonymous Byzantine texts known as the etymological lexica have been preserved.\u00a0 The entries\u00a0are arranged in alphabetical order.\u00a0 Each entry consists of a word, followed by some kind of explanation: which may be a definition, an etymology, or some other type of explanation of usage, including quotations from sources.<\/p>\n The oldest of these is the Etymologicum genuinum<\/em>, of the 9th century, preserved in two poor 10th c. manuscripts.\u00a0 Descended from this, in its original form, are almost all the other lexica of this type, of which the most important are:<\/p>\n The sources for the material are generally 2nd c. AD and later, such as Herodian, Orus, Orion, Theognostus, Choeroboscus, plus scholia, and the Epimerismi Homerici<\/em>.\u00a0 These in turn were compilations of Hellenistic scholarship, and so preserve numerous fragments of lost classical literature.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: A mess of partial modern editions.\u00a0 Complete versions are old. EM<\/em>: T. Gaisford,\u00a0Etymologicon magnum<\/em>, Oxford, 1848 (online at BSB<\/a>). EG<\/em>: F.W. Sturz, Etymologicum Graecae linguae Gudianum<\/em>, Leipzig, 1818. (= TLG) (online<\/a>); R. Pintaudi,\u00a0Etymologicum parvum quod vocatur<\/em>, Milan, 1973 (= TLG).\u00a0 ES<\/em> is largely unpublished.<\/p>\n Zonaras (13th c.)<\/strong><\/p>\n The lexicon of Zonaras is an\u00a0enormous lexicon from the 13th c., passing under the name of the 11th-12th c. historian.\u00a0\u00a0 It draws freely on a wide range of earlier scholarship.\u00a0 It is organised first alphabetically, by the first two letters, and then by\u00a0grammatical category.\u00a0 Some entries are just a word and its definition, but others\u00a0consist of long paragraphs with quotations from earlier writers.\u00a0 The work has been little studied, and some of that little is valueless.<\/p>\n Editions<\/em>: J.A.H. Tittmann, Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon<\/em>, Leipzig, 1808 (=TLG) Online here<\/a>.\u00a0 The only edition, hence it is sometimes called Lexicon Tittmannianum<\/em>.<\/p>\n Other lexica<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a number of important glossaries on individual authors. For Homer, those of Apollonius Sophista, and of Apion; there are Erotian’s, and Galen’s glossaries on the Hippocratic corpus;\u00a0 Plato: the lexicon of Timaeus; and some anonymous lexica on Herodotus.\u00a0 A number of other minor lexica such as the 14th c. Lexicon Vindobonensis<\/em> are known from late antiquity or the Byzantine period.\u00a0 There is also a mass of lexicographical material in papyri or medieval mss.<\/p>\n
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