Greek-English Lexicon [antikvár]

PREFACE The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott was first published in 1843. In the 150 years which have passed since then it has gone through nine editions, the last being augmented by a Supplement pubUshed in 1968. This Supplement incorporated a considerable amount of new material, mainly taken from inscriptions and papyri, and also 'a good deal of information pertaining to literary sources, where the systematic reading of new editions, or ordinary consultation by scholars, has revealed the lexicon to be in need of revision'. It had fallen to Dr M. L. West to see that Supplement through the press, and after its publication he kept custody of the slips from which it was printed and a collection of material that had been excluded from it. He did not undertake any further lexicographical work, but served as a receiving-point for any new material that happened to be sent to the Press. When he left Oxford in 1974 to take up a chair in London, he passed the archive to Mr (now Prof.) M. D. Reeve, then a Fellow of Exeter College. In January 1979 Dr West presented to the British Academy a proposal for the preparation of a new Supplement. After some discussion a committee was set up to plan and cost the project in detail. It consisted of the following members: Prof. M. L. West (chairman). Prof. R. Browning, Dr J. Chadwick, Prof. A. M. Davies, the late Prof. D. M. Lewis, and Mr (now Prof.) P. J. Parsons. Early in 1981 the Council of the Academy, having come to an agreement with Oxford University Press, accepted the proposal and adopted the Supplement as one of the Academy's Major Research Projects. It was agreed that the project would run for ten years, and that a full-time editor would be needed. The post was advertised, and Mr P. G. W. Glare, who had amply proved his lexicographical competence and stamina by his labours on the Oxford Latin Dictionary, was appointed with effect from 1 August 1981. The Project Committee continued to monitor progress throughout with its original membership unchanged, except for the addition of Mr N. G. Wilson in 1989, and with the regular attendance at its meetings of representatives of the Press and of the British Academy. In 1988, when it became clear that the undertaking was considerably greater than had at first been supposed, Dr Anne Thompson was appointed to the project as part-time Editorial Associate. Later in the same year Dr Carolinne White also joined the staff with the special function of checking the references, and proof-reading the printout at all stages; she also became mainly responsible for the compilation of the lists at the beginning of the Supplement. Mrs Lorna Lyons .acted as Secretary/Assistant throughout and, among multifarious duties, was entirely responsible for the keying-in of the text. Much new material has become available since the publication of the first Supplement, and the incorporation of this is again the main aim of the new Supplement. The question of revision is altogether more complicated and re-examination of the entries in the first Supplement revealed the need to redraft many of them. How far revision of the main Lexicon should proceed is a more difficult question. It was evident from