A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary [With Supplement by Merritt]

by J.R. Clark Hall and John Richard Clark Hall

Book Overview

This classic dictionary deals carefully and exhaustively with all the words which occur in Anglo-Saxon poetry and prose.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802065481
• ISBN13: 9780802065483
• Release Date: April 1984
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Our late-night translation saviour

Online two-way dictionaries, glosses in readers have nothing on this marvellous book. My friends and I, hacking (far too accurate description, I'm afraid. Quirk's Old English Grammar helped that in time) through Ælfred's laws for the first time for our class Old English and Its Closest Relatives, found that this was by far the most valuable resource we had, even when translating other dialects. Sure, it only has OE -> NE, but with even a little college-level knowledge of grammar, there is nothing in this book that's not either understandable or easily revealed. <br /> <br />My only complaint, and since I'm still no OE master, this may just be my ignorance, is that both words beginning in thorn and words beginning in eth are filed underneath eth, and so written with it.

I use mine all the time.

I use my CONCISE ANGLO-SAXON DICTIONARY all the time. It's indespensible. As far as the bad review everyone is writing about - you should see this Wyatt guy's website. His review is the sanest thing about the guy.

Hear, hear.

I just wanted to say that the reviewer below is right about the reviewer below him being wrong.

intended for teaching use, but a great help to writers

A wonderful source for Anglo-Saxon words and their meanings, which is very reasonably priced. Intended as a teaching aid, I have found it very helpful to the writer of period history and fiction.

Affordable, and adequate for general use

Students, usually a penurious lot, are in a pickle when it comes to dictionaries of ancient languages: a good one is essential, but often expensive. This paperback reprint offers a happy solution, a reasonably-priced dictionary of first resort. This is where to go when all you need is the meaning of a word. Words, their definitions, a few notes--it's really just a glorified glossary. Normalized spellings are used, but variants are included and cross-referenced. The notes consist mainly of abbreviated references to original texts and more advanced works, including the OED (or the NED as it was called when this dictionary first saw print). Latin borrowings are marked, but cognates in other Germanic languages are not supplied--save a few exceptions that occur maybe once every seven pages for no reason I can discern.A sample entry might give you a better sense of how this dictionary is organized.bearm I. (a) m. lap, bosom, breast, Lk : middle, inside: (+)possession. II. emotion, excitement? PPs 118. III.=beorma [Lk = Gospel of Luke; (+) = poetical; PPs = Paris Psalter.]