Abstract
This paper aims to demonstrate that the Thesaurus linguae Latinae, the world’s largest lexicon of ancient Latin and a traditional project rooted in 19th-century philology, makes a significant contribution to today’s intellectual diversity within Classical Studies. By analysing a corpus of 270 lemmas, ranging from r to razīmus, I argue that the TLL’s quietly revolutionary mode of philological pluralism is realized at three levels of lexicographic content: the selection of primary material (choosing textual passages of ancient Latin to be included in the lexicon); the arrangement of individual lexicographic entries (structuring the presentation of primary text in each article); and the annotation of passages, rubrics, and entire articles (providing metalinguistic description, explanation, and commentary). As a whole, my analysis presents the first-ever account of how the TLL systematically reshapes established lexicographic and scholarly practices.
Article note
The citations of Latin authors in this article follow the TLL Index librorum and TLL style.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the audiences of two oral versions of this paper delivered in Fribourg and Munich, who discussed with me issues both big and small, especially Anne-Elisabeth Beron, Christopher Dowson, Adam Gitner, Regina Höschele, Marijke Ottink, Gabriela Ryser, Karin Schlapbach, Friedrich Spoth, Adam Trettel, and Claudia Wick, as well as Nicoletta Bruno and Josine Schrickx, both of whom provided helpful comments on a written draft. I am also greatly indebted to Yuxi Liu for general encouragement and support.
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