British Academy Receives a Major Grant for Medieval Latin Dictionary
The British Academy is honoured to be named as the recipient of a grant of £415,000 over three years from the Packard Humanities Institute for the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources. This project, based in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, has long been supported by the British Academy and, more recently, by the Arts and Humanities Research Board as well. This major research grant will enable work on the Dictionary, soon to publish the letter 'O', to progress at a much faster rate by paying for additional editorial staff to be employed.
Announcing the grant to the Academy, Dr David Packard said, ‘It is a pleasure to inform you that the Board of Trustees of the Packard Humanities Institute has approved a grant in the amount of £415,000 to the British Academy in support of the Medieval Latin Dictionary project.’
Latin served for 1000 years as the principal medium of writing in Britain, and the Dictionary is the indispensable guide to this usage from the sixth century to the sixteenth. Latin was as receptive as English was to the needs of everyday life (and to the needs of users often barely literate), and in charting these medieval developments the Dictionary is as important for cultural history as it is for linguistics. To confirmed dictionary browsers, even those with rusty Latin, it offers many delights.
The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources is published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press. Seven fascicules of the Dictionary have been published to date, covering the letters A-N. The fascicule covering the letter O will be published soon. The project committee is chaired by Dr J N Adams, FBA, of All Souls College, Oxford. The General Editor of the Dictionary is Dr David Howlett.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Published:
24 November 2003
- The Packard Humanities Institute, based in Los Altos, California, makes grants for charitable or educational purposes.
- The British Academy is the national academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
- The project is in receipt of a large grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, receives direct financial support from the British Academy, and also receives significant support from the Faculty of Classics of the University of Oxford, where it is based.