Nonius Marcellus, Latin grammarian and lexicographer, lived at the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century AD.
He is often called the "Peripatetic of Thubursicum" (in Numidia, probably his birth-place).
He is the author of a sort of lexicon, called De compendiosa doctrina, in 20 sections or
chapters, the first twelve of which deal with language and grammar, the remaining eight with special subjects (navigation,
costume, food, arms). The work is a compilation from commentaries on the authors quoted (whom Nonius only knows at second hand)
and from existing dictionaries and grammars. Nonius is especially indebted to Verrius
Flaccus and Aulus Gellius.
The Doctrina is valuable as preserving fragments from old dramatists, annalists, satirists and antiquarian writers. It
is remarkable that in the quotations from the authors cited Nonius always follows the same order, beginning with Plautus and ending with Varro and Cato. The grammarians Priscian and Fulgentius borrowed largely from his book; and in the 5th
century a certain Julius Tryphonianus Sabinus brought out a revised and annotated edition.
References
Editions by
- L Müller (1888)
- J. H. Onions (1895)
- W. M. Lindsay (1903).
See also
- articles in the Classical Review (Dec. 1888, June and July 1889)
- J. H. Onions (Oct. 1890, Oct. 1895, Feb. 1896, Feb. 1902)
- W. M. Lindsay;
- Journal of Philology, xvi. (1888), xviii. (1890), (JH Onions), xxi. (1893). ("The Printed Editions of Nonius," by
H Nettleship)
- Paul Monceaux, Les Africains. Etude sur la littérature latine d'Afrique (1894)
- Teuffel, History of Roman Literature (Eng. trans.), 404A;
- Martin Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Literatur, iv. 1 (1904).
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia
Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public
domain.
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