In a message dated 12/19/02 12:49:48 PM, edwin-holtum@uiowa.edu writes:
<< I'm hoping someone can recommend a good Latin-English dictionary. I am
especially interested in a resource that would be appropriate for a history
of medicine collection. Thanks.
>>
Here are three choices:
1. Cassell's New Latin Dictionary ... by D.P. Simpson, first published in
1959, and still in print . Advantage: the least expensive of the three (less
than $20 on Amazon.com), and perfectly adequate for reading classical
authors. Disadvantage: English definitions not as complete as the next two
items.
2. A Latin Dictionary ... by Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short (known to
professional classicists simply as "Lewis & Short"). Oxford U. Press, first
published in 1879 and still in print. ADVANTAGE: Unabridged and Complete;
DISADVANTAGE: Expensive ($175), and English definitions have a definite
Victorian flavo(u)r.
3. Oxford Latin Dictionary, Ed. by P.G.W. Glare. Oxford, 1982 (in print).
Advantage: most up to date; follows the principles of the OED (with
quotations arranged in chronological order); Disadvantage: Most expensive
(ca. $300)
My recommendation for your purpose is 2 (Charlton & Lewis) -- although it,
like the other two, are only concerned with ancient authors. Thus, Scribonius
Largus and Celsus are accounted for, but not, of course, Vesalius or
Bartholin.
Fred Schreiber