The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek - by Franco Montanari (Hardcover)

About the Book

Winner of the 2016 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is the English translation of Franco Montanari's Vocabolario della Lingua Greca. With 140,000 entries this is the most important modern dictionary for Ancient Greek and an invaluable tool for students and advanced scholars alike.

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2016 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is the English translation of Franco Montanari's Vocabolario della Lingua Greca. With an established reputation as the most important modern dictionary for Ancient Greek, it brings together 140,000 headwords taken from the literature, papyri, inscriptions and other sources of the archaic period up to the 6th Century CE, and occasionally beyond.The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is an invaluable companion for the study of Classics and Ancient Greek, for beginning students and advanced scholars alike.
Translated and edited under the auspices of The Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, DC, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is based on the completely revised 3rd Italian edition published in 2013 by Loescher Editore, Torino.
The dictionary is also available as an online resource.

Features
- The principal parts of some 15,000 verbs are listed directly following the entry and its etymology. For each of these forms, the occurrence in the ancient texts has been certified. When found only once, the location is cited.
- Nearly all entries include citations from the texts with careful mention of the source.
- The dictionary is especially rich in personal names re-checked against the sources for the 3rd Italian edition, and in scientific terms, which have been categorized according to discipline.
- Each entry has a clear structure and typography making it easy to navigate.

"For a number of years now, scholars at ease in Italian have benefitted enormously from the riches, layout, concision, and accuracy of Professor Montanari's Vocabolario della Lingua Greca, with its added advantage of the inclusion of names. Hence classicists in general will welcome the English version of this very valuable resource." - Professor Richard Janko, University of Michigan
"Franco Montanari is a giant in our field, and his Dictionary is a major leap forward for us...." - Professor Gregory Nagy, Harvard University

Review Quotes

Franco Montanari's Dictionary of Ancient Greek has all the qualities that make a good dictionary: it is complete and up-to-date, it is accurate, and it is easy to use. Montanari has fully exploited the new information provided by inscriptions and papyri and has rightly treated personal names as evidence for the Greek language. These features make this Dictionary particularly valuable not only for the student of Classics but also for the specialized scholar who works with non-canonical texts and with the documentary sources.
- Professor Angelos Chaniotis, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

For a number of years now, scholars at ease in Italian have benefitted enormously from the riches, layout, concision, and accuracy of Professor Montanari's Vocabolario della Lingua Greca, with its added advantage of the inclusion of names. Hence classicists in general will welcome the English version of this very valuable resource.
- Professor Richard Janko, University of Michigan

Franco Montanari is a giant in our field, and his Dictionary is a major leap forward for us....
- Professor Gregory Nagy, Harvard University

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.
- P.E. Ojennus, CHOICE June 2016 vol. 53 no. 10 (DOI:10.5860/CHOICE.196128)

This is truly an impressive publication. I looked up several things and noted that I found what I was looking for, and more. It is up-to-date, easy to consult, and commendably generous with material from later centuries. It's a good thing I have good reading glasses!
- Jaap Mansfeld, Utrecht University, February 2016.

It stands on its own merits. It is innovative in the best way, employing very broad conceptions of the language and the highest standards.
- The Ds Commentary on Books. Fall 2016.

This is the sort of volume that should be, and will be, widely and regularly used. [...] I've been using it for all my Greek lexical needs since I received it and have found it amazingly helpful."
- Dr. Jim West, Zwinglius Redivivus, 5 January 2016

If readers wish to read widely in the LXX, the Apostolic Fathers and other early Christian literature, GE offers a far greater range of head words and identifies examples of usage over a far greater span of time and range of literature.
- Alistair I. Wilson, Highland Theological College UHI, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, Vol. 35, nr. 1

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek is fast becoming one of my favorite books. Congratulations to everyone at Brill on this monumental achievement!
- James D. Ernest, PhD, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

This is the English translation from the 3rd edition (2013) of the massive Italian work by Franco Montanari. At 2431 pages, and with nearly 133,000 "headwords," and entries that take account of ancient Greek literature, papyri, inscriptions and other sources, and covering evidence down to the 6th century AD, this work now effectively supersedes the older Liddell-Scott-Jones (LSJ) lexicon.
- Larry W. Hurtado, ret, University of Edinburgh January 2017.

Its comparative perspectives and the provision of new lexical data will surely serve to enrich the texts being studied. This is a splendid work and all those responsible for its production and translation are to be most warmly commended - Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh, The Expository Times 129, 4.
[...], the new Brill Greek dictionary is a most welcome addition to the current lexicographic store for Ancient Greek and is set to become a primary resource for the study of Ancient Greek, especially as regards non-literary texts and post-classical authors. - Panagiotis Filos (University of Ioannina), Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
With its user-friendly layout, lucid lexicographical approach, large coverage and up-to-date target language, GE undoubtedly fulfils its promises. The main strength of this dictionary lies in its excellent compromise between coverage and manageability, and in the clarity of both layout and conceptual organisation of the entries. While inheriting from GI its ideal context of use, the classroom, GE, like its Italian counterpart, is also an excellent addition for scholars seeking a well-organised and manageable scientific tool. GE is thus to be warmly welcomed as a fresh new, albeit traditional, voice in Greek-English lexicography. - Chiara Meccariello (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), The Classical Review

About the Author

Franco Montanari is Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the University of Genoa (Italy), Director of the Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica, of the Centro Italiano dell'Année Philologique and of the Aristarchus project online, and a member of numerous international research centers and associations. Apart from the Vocabolario della Lingua Greca he has published many other scientific works on ancient scholarship and grammar, archaic Greek epic poets and other Greek poets of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, including Brill's Companion to Hesiod (2009) and Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship (2015).