a latin dictionary or harpers latin dictionary often referred to as lewis and sh

ort or ls is a popular englishlanguage lexicographical work of the latin languag

e published by harper and brothers of new york in and printed simultaneously in
the united kingdom by oxford university press history the work is usually referr
ed to as lewis and short after the names of its editors charlton t lewis and cha
rles short it was derived from the english translation by ethan allen andrews of
an earlier latingerman dictionary wrterbuch der lateinischen sprache by the ger
man philologist wilhelm freund in turn based on ijg schellers latingerman dictio
nary of the andrews translation was partially revised by freund himself then by
henry drisler and was finally edited by short and lewis the division of labour b
etween the two editors was remarkably unequal short a very thorough but slow wor
ker produced material for the letters a through c but b and c were lost by harpe
rs meaning that his work now only appears in the letter a pages while lewis was
solely responsible for the entries beginning with the letters b through z pages
who worked on his spare time from his law practice in lewis published a heavily
abridged version the dictionary entitled an elementary latin dictionary for the
use of students sometimes called the elementary lewis it is still in print today
the adoption of the book by oxford university press was the result of the failu
re of its own project to create a new latinenglish dictionary in henry nettleshi
p and john mayor had been commissioned to produce a new latin dictionary based o
n a fresh reading of the sources but after mayor withdrew from the project nettl
eship was unable to complete it on his own he eventually published his research
as notes on lewis and short while the press had earlier published john riddles t
ranslation of schellers latingerman dictionary this was a much more expensive bo
ok the press thus adopted harpers latin dictionary as a stopgap measure paying h
arper and brothers per cent royalties harper and brothers sold its rights to the
american book company in shortly before its bankruptcy from the time of its pub
lication many scholars have criticized the dictionary for its errors and inconsi
stencies because of various circumstances however no replacement was attempted u
ntil with the oxford latin dictionary which was completed in the dictionarys ful
l text is available online from the perseus project lewis and short is also avai
lable for offline consultation by means of various applications comparison with
other dictionaries among classicists lewis and short has been largely superseded
by the oxford latin dictionary called the old for short lewis and short incorpo
rated material from existing latin dictionaries the old by contrast started from
scratch following procedures similar to those of the wellregarded oxford englis
h dictionary thanks to the increased availability of modern editions the old edi
tors had access to a larger variety of classical works although classicists stil
l consult lewis and short they tend to prefer the old on the other hand lewis an
d short remains a standard reference work for medievalists renaissance specialis
ts and early modernists as the dictionary covers late and medieval latin if some
what inconsistently the old when used on its own rarely meets their needs since
it was decided early in the olds planning that the work would not encompass work
s written later than ad a few exceptions were made for especially important text
s from the late classical period such as augustines de civitate dei but for peri
ods later than that the old is considerably less useful the dictionary of mediev
al latin from british sources supplements the old for medieval usage of latin wo
rds in cases where lewis and short do not answer a medieval usage question j f n
iermeyers mediae latinitatis lexicon minus often supplies an answer the lexicon
minus was completed in by c van de kieft after niermeyers death and has since be
come a standard reference work more recent editions of the lexicon minus have co
rrections and expansions also in later editions all words are defined in english
french and german making it of greater international importance than lewis and
short the glossarium ad scriptores media et infirmae latinitatis completed in by
charles du fresne commonly referred to as du cange after the authors title the
sieur du cange is now less frequently used as niermeyers lexicon minus incorpora
tes much of its information on occasion people confuse lewis and short or ls wit
h liddell and scott its greek counterpart entitled a greekenglish lexicon the an
d later editions of liddell and scott are commonly referred to by the abbreviati
on lsj after the names of its editors liddell scott and the editor of the revisi

on jones see also oxford latin dictionary dictionary of medieval latin from brit
ish sources william whitakers words references see the advertisement of the book
itself available on wikisource sypher francis jacques october a history of harp
ers latin dictionary harvard library bulletin stray christopher lex wrecks a tal
e of two latin dictionaries dictionaries journal of the dictionary society of no
rth america issn retrieved nettleship henry contributions to latin lexicography
oxford clarendon press retrieved stray christopher the oxford latin dictionary a
historical introduction in pgw glare ed oxford latin dictionary ed oxford oxfor
d university press pp xixvii isbn louis w roger history of oxford university pre
ss volume iii to oxford oxford university press p isbn dilke oaw october final e
in lewis and short greece rome dois issn retrieved dunbabin rl december notes o
n lewis and short the classical review doisx issn x retrieved dunbabin rl februa
ry notes on lewis and short continued the classical review doisx issn x retrieve
d fletcher gba november more notes on lewis and short the classical review doisx
issn x retrieved inge wr february annotations in lewis and shorts lexicon the c
lassical review doisx issn x retrieved ingram john k etymological notes on lewis
and shorts latin dictionary hermathena issn retrieved kirkland jh some errors i
n harpers latin dictionary the american journal of philology doi issn retrieved
knapp charles corrections and additions to lewis and short in connection with au
lus gellius the american journal of philology doi issn retrieved laidlaw wa nove
mber lewis and short some corrigenda and addenda hermathena issn retrieved leepe
r alexander notes on lewis and shorts latinenglish lexicon the american journal
of philology doi issn retrieved maguinness ws february notes on lewis and short
the classical review doisx issn x retrieved moore frank g corrections and additi
ons to lewis and short the american journal of philology doi issn retrieved muel
ler janel m review of oxford latin dictionary by p g w glare modern philology do
i issn retrieved brooke c n l july review of mediae latinitatis lexicon minus by
jf niermeyer c van de kieft the english historical review doiehrxciiiccclxviii
issn retrieved external links browse text at perseus perseus word study tool inc
luding lewis and short and lewiss elementary latin dictionary logeion combining
lewis and short with other latin and greek dictionaries with an offline version
for ios latin dictionary lewis and short and whittakers words for ios glossa lew
is and short for the web and desktop based on adobe air verba lewis and short fo
r mac os x diogenes ancient text browsing application including lewis and short
lewis shorts latinenglish dictionary for windows with colorcoded definitions and
quotations catalogue page from oxford university press