Customer Reviews

Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus: Lexique Latin Medieval - Medieval Latin Dictionary - Mittellateinisches Worterbuch (Multilingual Edition)

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I have been studying classical and medieval Latin for many years and own multiple Latin dictionaries (Cassel's, Oxford, Lewis & Short, New College, in addition to this, etc...). This is the best Medieval Latin dictionary available. It is only meant for early and high Medieval Latin (thus not for Athanasius, who is 17th century, post-Renaissance). It contains many of the words that have shifted beyond all intelligibility between classical and Medieval Latin which saves loads of time in translation. It is divided into two rather hefty volumes for ease of use and includes, as the previous reviewer mentioned English, French, and German translations with some medieval examples. The reason for the multiple languages is because most medieval scholars read two if not all three of these languages which makes it almost universally usable by medieval scholars. The multiple languages can be a bit distracting if you're only looking for one language, but it is easy to get used to. This dictionary has gotten me through many a convoluted medieval Latin passage with (almost) ease. If you're looking for a more compact medieval Dictionary (and more affordable) try the Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin by Leo F. Stelten. It's not strictly speaking "medieval," but its pretty darn close and 1/10 of the price and 1/4 of the size.

Pour les FRancophones... bon lexique de latin médiéval de base, en complément du Gaffiot qui rend encore de bons services. Apporte toutefois peu par rapport au Blaise (Brepols).

It's amazing how many entries are lacking from this two volume dictionary -- each of which is hefty. You'll definitely be primarily using a real Classical lexicon like Oxford; when entries are present they suggest translations of Latin phrases by English, French and German phrases which may be useful to you polyglots. Trying to translate Athanasius Kircher I had much more luck with my little Cassell Latin Dictionary than with this -- at a fraction of the cost.