The Center for Hellenic Studies is pleased to share the following review of the Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, published by Choice. Franco Montanari’s Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is the most modern and complete dictionary for the study of Ancient Greek currently on the market. It is available in several formats, including a convenient and affordable single volume.
Coeditors Goh and Schroeder (with other scholars, under the auspices of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard Univ.) have overseen the translation of Vocabolario della lingua greca, by Montanari (Univ. of Genoa, Italy). The project fulfills the need for a current, full-scale Greek lexicon in English, as the standard ninth edition (1925–40) of A Greek-English Lexicon, by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott—accessible via the Perseus Digital Library (CH, Jun’15, 52-5096)—has not been completely revised for 65 years. The Brill dictionary contains 132,884 entries, comprehensively covering ancient Greek from Homer through the sixth century AD, including many personal and place-names. Its coverage of Jewish and Christian writers especially, and the Imperial Period generally, improves on Liddell and Scott’s lexicon and introduces and updates entries for words in recently discovered texts, papyri, and inscriptions. The translation team has incorporated corrections not yet included in the 2013 third edition of the Vocabolario, and has independently checked all citations and translations. Individual entries contain grammatical notes, etymological information, translations into modern English, examples with translations and sources, and dialectical and other variant forms. Many complex entries begin with an overview keyed to elements of each full entry that follows. The layout is attractive and easy to use, and scholarly depth is exceeded only by the (still incomplete) Diccionario Griego-Español production overseen by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid. Brill is releasing single-volume and online editions in addition to the boxed, two-volume deluxe set, to suit a variety of users’ needs. For all collections supporting study of classics, religion, philosophy, and Greek language and literature. Summing Up: Essential. All academic levels.
