Elementary Latin Dictionary

click here for more details, find new or used items	C. T. Lewis Our price £26.50 (£30.00) New from £25.50 Used from £12.75 Pages: 964 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0199102058 Pub: OUP Oxford Pub date: 1963-03-26 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 236836

Reader Reviews:

Excellent, but not entirely straightforward (3/3 people found this helpful)

I was on the hunt for a good Latin dictionary for a beginner, and I had a chance to compare this in a bookshop with the Pocket Oxford Latin Dictionary, which was stacked next to it. If, like me, you're the sort of person who wants to have the most complete reference book you can afford, then Lewis's Elementary Latin Dictionary looks like the one to get - it's heavier, thicker, has more pages and more definitions.

So far so good. However, I opened the more recent Oxford dictionary at random and my eye fell on a Latin verb, "irrumo", the definition of which I'll come to in a minute. Startled, I looked up the same word in this book. There was no entry, but I was directed to "see 'inr-'". I looked up inr-, and after some searching I eventually found "inrumo, irrumo: an obscene abuse." That was considerably less explicit than the Oxford book, which calmly told me what the word meant. Dear reader, this is a family website, so let me just say that according to the Pocket Oxford, "irrumo" is the Latin verb that you would use to describe the act of being given oral gratification.

This may seem a quibble, but anyone who has read Catullus or Juvenal is well aware that some of the greatest Latin poets are often totally obscene. Surely a dictionary ought to explain, not protect the reader from naughtiness. If you relied entirely on Lewis, you would never be able to make sense of Catullus 28.10 or 37.8, for example. Presumably this was originally a dictionary designed for schoolboys, hence the coyness, but it does seem a little out of date in the 21st century.

I'm sure that if you're reading Caesar, Livy or Virgil, this book will give you all the help you need. But if you're off slumming with the less noble-minded Romans, you might want something more candid. In the meantime the Pocket Oxford is a third of the price, and also translates from English to Latin. It was also the one I walked out of the shop with.

One star off, because I think somebody should have revised it by now.

A classic (8/8 people found this helpful)

A previous reviewer says that if you are looking for a Latin to English dictionary, this is not the one. I disagree. This is a really excellent Latin-English dictionary. What it does NOT include is an English to Latin section.

"...a superb collection of Latin words and phrases..." (8/16 people found this helpful)

If you're looking for a Latin to English dictionary, this is not the one. The Elementary Latin Dictionary is a superb collection of Latin words and phrases, with delicate facsimile pages, fine text and marvellous definitions. This is certainly not an "everyday" dictionary; it's more an on the shelf collector's item to be handled with the utmost care. It is probably the most ambitious compilation that you will ever find - I learned this on my great hunt for a quality Latin dictionary. I paid £21 for it and should the price have been £80 I would still have bought it!

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