Saturday, October 28, 2023

Now that's a lexicon

 My little lexicon is a lighthearted attempt to help an American reader connect with a English author. But most lexicons are serious business.

We’d be in the dark about many things in the ancient world were it not for the lexicon compiled by Hesychius (Hay-SOO-key-oss) of Alexandria, a Greek grammarian.

The culture produced people like Herodotus, who was intensely curious about all kinds of people and cultures. Herodotus and those of kindred mind came back with strange words describing the food, religious beliefs, clothes and customs of people who have disappeared.

My lexicon for baffled Americans has perhaps 100 entries. Hesychius’s has more than 50,000.

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Paying attention

 In grade school, I had a teacher who thumped the ears of boys who looked out the window, daydreaming when they should have been paying atte...

  • When Willa Cather's life began
     Willa Cather had a maxim: “Life began for me when I ceased to admire and began to remember.” She liked what the Greeks called  anamnesis , ...
  • Anthony Griffin: 'The Water Cries'
     Anthony Griffin set out to answer a couple of simple research questions: How many auction houses sold enslaved people in Galveston, Texas? ...
  • After the election
      People who are disappointed by elections ought to be careful about what they say — not out of fear of tyrants but out of concern for sprea...