About the dictionaries

The following dictionaries are currently available here on Latinitium.com:

Smith & Hall

Smith, William & Hall, Theophilus D. (1871). A Copious and Critical English-Latin Dictionary.

The English-Latin dictionary of Smith & Hall, originally published in 1871 under the title A Copious and Critical English-Latin Dictionary, is widely regarded as the best and, with 29 000 headwords, most extensive lexicon for translating from English into Latin ever written. Thanks to the effort of Johan Winge, it is now, for the first time, available online in a fully digitized and searchable form, exlusively here on Latinitium!

One feature of this digital edition that we hope that our readers will particularly enjoy is the ability to click on any Latin word and be redirected to the corresponding article in Lewis & Short. Similarly, most of the references are linked to the original text in the Perseus Digital Library.

What primarily sets this dictionary apart from other English dictionaries of the same magnitude (notably A Copious and Critical English-Latin Lexicon by Riddle & Arnold, 1864) is the fact that Smith & Hall spent considerable effort on going back to the classical texts and reevaluating the meaning of the Latin words and phrases in their original context. The proposed Latin translations are supported by references to the sources, and commonly illustrated with quotations, both in English translation and in the original Latin.

A more in-depth account of the labour that was spent by the authors on this monumental work can be read in the original preface. There they also give an overview of the structure of the dictionary articles. See also the list of abbreviations of names of authors and their works and a separate list of general abbreviations.

Lewis & Short

Lewis, Charlton T. & Short, Charles. (1849). Harpers’ Latin Dictionary: A New Latin Dictionary Founded on the Translation of Freund’s Latin-German Lexicon.

The Latin-English Dictionary of Lewis & Short hardly needs an introduction, for anyone who speaks English and studies Latin is likely to have consulted it on several occasions, either in print, or, perhaps more likely these days, using a web site or a smart-phone app.

In order to easier investigate the meaning of quoted Latin sentences, each Latin word is a link to the corresponding dictionary article.

Horae Latinae: Studies In Synonyms and Syntax

Ogilvie, Robert. (1901). Horae Latinae: Studies in Synonyms and Syntax.

Here you will find almost 500 English words and expressions with detailed descriptions of how to best render them in Latin, and with copious quotes from classical authors illustrating the usage.

The proposed Latin translations are linked to the corresponding articles in Lewis & Short.

Döderlein’s Handbook of Latin synonyms

Döderlein, Ludwig. (1874). Handbook of Latin Synonyms.

This is the English version of Ludwig Döderlein’s Handbuch der Lateinischen Synonymik, which is an abridged version of his monumental 6-volume Lateinische Synonyme und Etymologieen (1826–1838). In 550 articles, the finer nuances in meaning of nearly 2 400 Latin words are discussed. The handbook briefly states the differences between the Latin words while leaving out the reasoning and arguments for establishing them, which are present in the full work. Frequently, the articles will end with a link to the full original German text, for those who are curious to investigate the issue further.

Used in conjunction with the other dictionaries here, this is an invaluable resource for determining the difference between apparent synonyms in Latin. As in the other dictionaries, the Latin words are linked to their corresponding articles in Lewis & Short.