THE DICTIONARIES

BASIC LATIN DICTIONARY: This is a dictionary of 5000 words with compact definitions, designed for use OFFLINE with your browser and furnished on a CD. Since the dictionary is used on your computer, it can be used with a printed text without connecting to the Internet. We followed the detailed study of word usage compiled by Gonzales Lodge, Columbia University l907, which supplied lists of ALL words used in Caesar;'s Commentaries I-V, a wide selection of Cicero's legal "Orations", and Vergil's Aeneid I-VI, thus providing a broad spectrum of standard Latin word usage.

There are two version included on this CD: Dictionary A suitable for school use, and Dictionary B with frank words for college and adult readers. Download to your HD the one which is most suitable for your purposes.

HUMANIST'S LATIN DICTIONARY: This is a much larger Latin dictionary of 16,000 words which will cover all literary texts which you will find in Latin. In preparing this first Latin e-dictionary, the author read through the entire Oxford Latin Dictionary with its 2126 large pages of small print citations, to compile and compactly define a list of the vocabulasry of Latin Literature. Words are graded from Basic through Rare in five classes, down to apax legomena (e.g. laecasin, magalia). This work was begun as the earliest electronic Latin dictionary, at a time when computers were first coming into personal use, with generous aid from the Sloan Foundation.

LATIN READING MATERIALS

LATIN READING TEXTS: Here you will find a large group of Latin texts in a book-style readable format . These are separated into groups ranging from very easy Latin for beginners, down to large texts of complex poetry for advancing students. Be sure to start with the simplest text and progressivly move to more difficult ones.

HOW TO USE THESE FILES

To use these dictionaries and the Latin texts following, you will be using your browser as a formatting "front end" by opening the file you want to read from your Browser.

When a file is opened, slide the window to a convenient 3 x 3" box in upper left of the screen,to save space. It can be can be pulled down to length to browse and scroll definitions. This avoids a large box blocking the mid screen, where you may want to have other material in view. Since the files are html coded they will work on Mac or PC equally well. But if you want to see more words at the same time, drag down for a longer strip. You may want to turn off Address Bar and Status Bar under VIEW menu on your browser to make more space available.

To find a word , do a search for the Latin word with the FIND of your browser (CMD-f and repeat-search CMD-g). To search any WORD, enter a DOT first and then the word or first few letters. Use COM-g for additional searches of the word. Without the DOT you will get all the available compounds of the word, which may also be very useful. You can also search for an English word with repeat searches COM-g until you find what you are looking for.

To search an ENDING, enter a DOT before AND after the ending you want (e.g. .averunt. )This will return an ending with its complete grammar and translation. Just remember the DOT first for a WORD, and DOT before and after for an ENDING.

William Harris (1926-2009) was a Middlebury College Professor of Classics from 1956 to 1988.