Nam sine vocabulis mens inscia dicitur omnis
Bartholomaei Clareti Vocabularius grammaticus, v. 4
Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum
The Dictionary of Medieval Latin in Czech lands was founded in 1934 by Prof. Dr. Bohumil Ryba, and since then it forms part of an international project directed by the International Union of Academies (Union Académique Internationale), located in Brussels. Most European countries are participating in this vast and long‑term scholarly project whose goal is to create a complete dictionary of Medieval Latin based on national dictionaries. Its aim is to replace DuCange’s Lexicon (Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis, Graz 1883-1887) and to encompass the vocabulary of Medieval Latin throughout the whole of Europe.
The dictionary registers vocabulary as used in Czech lands since the beginnings of Latin letters in this area (from about 1000 AD) to 1500 AD. Material, today amounting to ca. 800 000 excerpt sheets, was gathered from sources of various types (diplomatical, official, belles-lettres, scientific literature etc.) of Czech provenance. It provides thorough and sufficiently informative data about the wide range and heterogeneity of means of expression to be found in Latin letters of the Czech Middle Ages. The merit of our Dictionary, as compared to those created in foreign countries, is its inclusion, not only of the sources available in modern editions, but also of those which remain in manuscripts or old prints, gathered from Czech as well as foreign libraries. Thus, it offers a path to a great wealth of words that would otherwise remain hidden in unpublished sources. Especially valuable for a cognizance of the medieval mentality are quotations from medieval treatises (for instance, from juristic, theological, philosophical, botanical, zoological, alchemistic or astronomical writings), from public acts and numerous Czech and German vocabularies.
The Dictionary differentiates itself from and complements the eighth edition of Georges’ Latin‑German Lexicon (K. E. Georges-H. Georges, Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch I, II, Basel 19138). This method, stipulated by rules of Du Cange Committee for creating dictionaries of Medieval Latin, allows the capture of all phonological, morphological, syntactical, stylistic, prosodic and semantic divergences of Medieval Latin vocabulary carried over from the ancient era as compared with classical norms; the study of its changes and developments in new social and cultural conditions; and also the separate analysis of peculiar and newly-emerged words from Medieval Latin. Explanations in entries are given in Latin and Czech, Latin explanations having the character of a definition, the Czech ones being basically translations.
The Dictionary is intended for Czech and foreign scholars in all areas of medieval studies. The excerpt sheets are accessible on demand from the Institute.
Brief extracts from the Dictionary and an overview of fascicules published so far can be found here.
You can click here to obtain a List of sources and a List of abbreviations.
