Guide to the dictionary (2024)

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Conventions used in the text

Structure

Main senses indicated by numbers may be followed by a subsection or subsections; these are introduced by letters thus: 1 . . b . . c, etc. Some senses consist of two or more equally important elements, and in these the letter a is also employed, e.g. 2a . . b, etc.

Alternative spellings, declensions, etc. are sometimes indicated by Greek letters, Again, equally important forms are shown by α, β, γ, etc., minor variants by β, γ, etc.

Vowels

Consonantal and vocalic i and u respectively are not distinguished. Where assimilation of consonants takes place in a compound word, the more common form, as printed in the editions, is normally used for the lemma. For example, compounds of ad-and p-appear under app-, while compounds of ad-and n-, in which assimilation is not common, appear under adn-.

Normally only long vowels in a metrically indeterminate position are marked (e.g. audītus, auē). Final ‘o’s, though frequently scanned short in Silver Latin, are regularly given their original value.

Variants and Cross-References

Variant spellings are printed in bold either immediately after the headword, preceded by a comma:

acoron,~um

or following the part of speech and preceded by ‘Also’:

Abȳdos,~us ~īf. Also ~um ~īn.

Citations

Works are shown in italics and quotations from them in roman, unless they are inscriptions, in which case small capitals are used. When an author remains the same for two or more consecutive quotations, he is cited only before the first one:

compendium ‥ 2b ‥ Pl. Rud. 180 ‥ St. 194 ‥ Capt. 965

Suffixes

The articles on suffixes are not intended as a complete historical account of all Latin formations; they are no more than an indication of the principal elements regarded from a synchronistic point of view. One of the most characteristic features of Latin suffixes is their growth by misdivision: for instance, the elementary suffix -nus gives rise to a group of secondary suffixes -ānus, -īnus, -ernus, -tinus. All such, if sufficiently common, are listed separately; where there may be doubt about the correct allocation, words are treated as containing the more specific, or longer, form of the suffix (e.g. urbānus is analysed as urbs + -ānus, even though a historically more correct analysis might be + -nus). It is in many cases impossible to determine the historical facts, since in the classical period -anus was clearly felt as a living suffix, whereas -nus was no longer employed in new formations. Some apparent discrepancies in the analysis of suffixes will be explained in the articles in question: thus the analysis of defensio as defendo + -tio depends upon the historical fact that two dental sounds in contact developed into a sibilant. The examples quoted in the articles on suffixes are only a small selection.

Signs and symbols

General abbreviations

Note: Many abbreviations appear in plural form with the addition of ‘s’, e.g. abbrevs., compars., gds., phrs., qus. They are not listed separately below.