Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey

battologia

When it comes to dictionaries, I’ve always wanted to have a copy of the Greek Lexicon (of 51,000 difficult words) compiled by Hesychius of Alexandria in the fifth century CE. (If I look up a word in Scott & Liddell, it seems I’m always being waylaid by one of Hesychius’ nearby inkhorn terms.) The last complete edition was published by Marcus Musurus in 1514 (at the press of Aldus Manutius). There’s just one MS and a modern edition, under the auspices of the Danish Academy, has been in the works since 1953. So far, they’ve made it to omicron. There’s more information here as well as a digitized page from the sole MS (Venice, Marc. Gr. 622).