We are very pleased to announce the alpha rollout of our first product. Glossa is a Latin dictionary based on A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrews' Edition of Freund's Latin Dictionary: Revised, Enlarged, and in Great Part Rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D (commonly referred to as Lewis and Short). Published in 1879, this work is now in the public domain.
Glossa is available in two versions: a web-based version and a desktop version, which can be downloaded here.
What makes Glossa different from other on-line Latin dictionaries?
Glossa combines a unique interface with a commitment to full exploration of a Latin word's possible meanings. The type-ahead suggest feature allows words to be found easily as you type, and the database gives you full definitions of words, including examples from Latin literature and etymologies. The sidebar shows you where you are in the dictionary, giving you the ten words before the current entry and the ten words after.
Praise for Glossa
"curre! noli ambulare! You'll want to be able to say you were in on the ground floor of this so you can impress all of your classicist friends."- Larry Martin, Ascension Academy
"magnĭfĭcē! (the adverbial form of magnĭfĭcus, courtesy of Glossa!) Well done, A3W! (Glossa even supplies macrons and breves!)"
- Sharon Kazmierski, LatinTeach
"Oh, it's so SHINY."
- The "Medievalists - We Go There" blog
You said this is an alpha release. What's next for Glossa?
We are busy cataloging every word in the dictionary as to its part of speech, declension or conjugation, gender, and other grammatical information. In the future, this will allow searches for "every first declension word that begins with R" or "every third conjugation verb that's deponent". We will also be adding maps for the geographical entries, pictures of items where appropriate, and updating some of the less-than-modern English Lewis and Short sometimes present.
Are you going to be selling this?
No. Glossa is and will remain free. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Basically, you are free to use distribute or remix this material, provided that you provide proper credit (see details on the download page), do not produce the work for commercial purposes, and allow others the same rights with your new work.
Can I help?
If you've got a good grasp of Latin (say, the equivalent of two years of high school Latin), the answer is YES! You just need to be able to identify grammatical items when you see them. If you'd like to help, please e-mail glossa [at] athirdway [dot] com.