Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin [Hardcover]

Leo F. Stelten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

Leo Stelten has put to use his years of experience teaching Latin in compiling this concise reference book. The Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin includes approximately 17,000 words with the common meanings of the Latin terms found in church writings. Entries cover Scripture, Canon Law, the Liturgy, Vatican II, the early church fathers, and theological terms. This volume will prove to be an invaluable resource for theological students, as well as for those seeking to improve their knowledge of ecclesiastical Latin. An appendix also provides descriptions of ecclesiastical structures and explains technical terms from ecclesiastical law. The Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin has already been widely praised for its serviceability and indispensability in both academic and Church settings.

"For seminarians studying for the priesthood, the Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin by Leo F. Stelten will be helpful for examining Vatican documents in the original language, papal encyclicals and allocutions, publications on church liturgy, and Cannon Law volumes. This product of years of teaching, now updated, will be a happy resource in chanceries as well. The format is easy to follow and the vocabulary of some 17,000 words and phrases is quite adequate."
—Reverend Joseph F. Downey, S. J., Editorial Director, Loyola University Press, Chicago, Illinois

"A working knowledge of Latin is important for anyone who wishes to study the nearly two thousand years of living tradition of the Catholic Church. It is essential for those who wish to study seriously the sacred sciences of philosophy, theology, and cannon law. Father Leo Stelten, drawing upon his long experiences in teaching Latin to students for the priesthood, has developed in his Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin a most helpful tool both for those who are beginning their study of the church's lingua materna, as well as for those who are working to renew and improve their knowledge of church Latin."
—Monsignor Raymond L. Burke, Supremum Signaturae Apostolicae Tribunal, Vatican City, Rome

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565631315
• ISBN-13: 978-1565631311
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Latin

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars none better, March 10, 2002

By 

Robert W. Flammang (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin (Hardcover)

If you want to read the Vulgate and don't have 180 dollars to spend on Lewis & Short, this is the dictionary for you. Neither Cassel's nor the Chambers-Murray nor even the Oxford Latin dictionary will suffice; their vocabularies are restricted to classical authors. This is the best inexpensive Latin-English dictionary I've seen that lists words from after the 5th century AD. It simply has no competition!

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference on Vulgate Latin, May 27, 2003

By 

Gary Bisaga "Christian Father and Husband" (Leesburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin (Hardcover)

I bought this dictionary solely for reading the Latin Vulgate, for the on-line Vulgate reading group that I run. Although I have some knowledge of Greek, I wanted a good and easy-to-use resource that provides the Latin translations. This dictionary succeeds admirably, although you should have a decent basic Latin dictionary like Cassell's also. I have never found a word in the Vulgate that was not defined in either Cassell's or this dictionary. Even "problem words" (usually directly transliterated into Latin from Greek) are there - for example, "telonium".

In addition to good word coverage, it also explains idiomatic usages of words, especially with prepositions. Look at the example pages and you'll some examples of idiomatic uses of words with the preposition "ad".

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Lexicon, April 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin (Hardcover)

This is a very fine dictionary for scholarly or ecclesiastical use. Is is useful in working on Church documents and particularly the Vulgate. I highly recommend it for any persons working on Latin texts of an ecclesiastical nature.