Cassell's Italian Dictionary (Thumb-indexed Version): Italian-English English-Italian [Hardcover]

Piero Rebora (Compiler)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Thumb-indexed edition

It takes its dignified place in the Cassell series, that fountainhead and model of "modern lexicography," said Le Lingue del Mondo. "The compilers have given an excellent working tool to the English and ourselves."

This entirely new dictionary is designed as a mirror of contemporary Italian life but it includes obsolete words and phrases which are recurrent in the works of classic Italian writers for the benefit of readers and students of Italian literature.

From the Inside Flap

Cassell's Italian Dictionary
"It takes its dignified place in the Cassell series, that fountainhead and model of modern lexicography," said Le Lingue del Mondo. "The compilers have given an excellent working tool to the English and ourselves." This entirely new dictionary is designed as a mirror of contemporary Italian life but it includes obsolete words and phrases which are recurrent in the works of classic Italian writers for the benefit of readers and students of Italian literature. Piero Rebora, who worked throughout the last twenty-five years of his life on the compilation of this dictionary, was Professor of English Studies at the State University of Milan. His guidelines were based on more than a century of experience in the compilation of language dictionaries which has made Cassell a hallmark throughout the world.

Famous Cassell's Dictionaries

• French-English, English-French Standard, Thumb-indexed and Concise Editions
• German-English, English-German Standard, Thumb-indexed and Concise Editions
• Spanish-English, English-Spanish Standard, Thumb-indexed and Concise Editions
• Italian-English, English-Italian Standard and Thumb-indexed Editions
• English-Dutch, Dutch-English Standard Edition
• Latin-English, English-Latin Standard, Thumb-indexed and Concise Editions

Also published by Macmillan
A series of companion volumes showing the peculiarities of meaning and usage in colloquial speech, the intricacies of which cannot be adequately explained in a standard dictionary.

• Cassell's Colloquial French
• Cassell's Colloquial German
• Cassell's Colloquial Italian
• Cassell's Colloquial Spanish

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1436 pages
• Publisher: Cassell's; Indexed edition (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0025225405
• ISBN-13: 978-0025225404
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #498,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cassell's Italian Dictionary, July 22, 2000

By	Richard R. Taha - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cassell's Italian Dictionary (Thumb-indexed Version): Italian-English English-Italian (Hardcover)

I have bought several Italian English dictionaries in the past. There are all different. Some have pictures, but then they do not have enough room and miss some every day words. They are good for beginners and some travellers. The other type of dictionary is the dry word for word transalation without giving you any examples on how that particular word could be used in a sentence. What I liked about Cassel's dictionary is that it addresses both points. First, it is over 1100 pages so you will find almost any word. Second, where appropriate, it gives examples of how to use the idiomatic type words. Any student of the Italian language knows that it is very easy to become frustrated by conjucations and the irregular verbs. That area is well covered here. However, if you really want to learn about Italian conjugations, read the "501 Italian Verbs by Colaneri and Luciani" There is also an appendix for words such as "wild cat strike" and "Warehousing" and slangs such as "floozie" and "flophouse" are also covered. So, this dictionary caters to your every need. The only complain that I have is that some pictures such as certain plants and architectural parts of the building would have made the book much better. All in all a great dictionary for all levels.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Worthless for musicians: no IPA, and very little other pronunciation help, March 25, 2009

By	Christopher Baum (Astoria, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cassell's Italian Dictionary (Thumb-indexed Version): Italian-English English-Italian (Hardcover)

I bought this dictionary to use when working on vocal music in Italian. I've used other Cassell's dictionaries before, so I assumed this would be just as good. Unfortunately the Italian portion of the dictionary gives very little information about pronunciation. The author's lame excuse for this is that Italian is "almost phonetic" -- which is true, but the "almost" part of that statement is very important. For singers, it is very important to know what vowel to sing. In Italian, the letters E and O may be pronounced either open (as in the English words "get" and "cotton") or closed (roughly as in "gate" or "coat"). This is not a trivial difference; what's more, there are no 100% effective "rules" to tell you which version of the vowel to use in any given case. You have to.... that's right, consult a dictionary. Unfortunately this one is no help.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars As valuable as a pocket, October 9, 2001

By	Due Bambini at home (Jax, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cassell's Italian Dictionary (Thumb-indexed Version): Italian-English English-Italian (Hardcover)

I've used this dictionary now for several weeks to prepare speeches on current events. I have found that the entries do not cover the "nuances" of meaning very well. And not all forms of the word are explored. For example, one can derive a noun, adjective and adverb out of most Italian verbs (although the meaning may not be what you exactly expect), and these variations are often ignored. I've replaced my 10-year-old paperback with this version, but will still seek out an unabridged Italian-English dictionary.