Ambrogio Calepino

Ambrogio Calepino, Biblioteca Angelo Mai, Bergamo

Ambrogio Calepino (Bergamo, c. 1440 – Bergamo, 1510), commonly known by the Latin form of his name, Calepinus, was an Italian lexicographer.

He entered the Augustinian Order in 1458.

Works

His Latin dictionary, under the title of Cornucopiæ, appeared first in 1502 at Reggio. It was reprinted many times during the 16th century, Aldi alone producing no fewer than 18 editions from 1542 to 1592. Later editions were considerably enlarged. To the Latin of the original were added equivalents in other languages. Thus we have the Basle edition (1590) which contains eleven languages: "Ambrosii Calepini dictionarium undecim linguarum: respondent autem latinis vocabulis hebraica, græca, gallica, italica, germanica, belgica, hispanica, polonica, ungarica, anglica".

The edition in seven languages by Jacopo Facciolati (Pavia, 1718) with the assistance of Egidio Forcellini,^[1] was reprinted many times. Calepinus became a common name, a synonym of dictionary or lexicon, and we find titles like the following: Septem linguarum calepinus, hoc est, lexicon latinum. Calepino also wrote the life of John the Hermit which is found in the Acta Sanctorum for the 22nd of October (Oct. IX, 748-767).

References

•  "Ambrogio Calepino". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 

Notes

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Ambrogio Calepino". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

This biographical article about an Italian religious figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e

This article about an Italian writer or poet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e