Etymologicum Magnum

M. in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicographer around 1150 AD.

Other sources include Stephanus of Byzantium, the Epitome of Diogenianus, the so-called Lexicon Αἱμωδεῖν (Haimōdeῖn), Eulogius’ Ἀπορίαι καὶ λύσεις (Ἀporίai kaὶ lύseis), George Choeroboscus’ Epimerismi ad Psalmos, the Etymologicon of Orion of Thebes, and collections of scholia.

[1] The compiler of the Etymologicum Magnum was not a mere copyist; rather he amalgamated, reorganised, augmented and freely modified his source material to create a new and individual work.

The editio princeps of the Etymologicum Magnum was published by Zacharias Kallierges and Nikolaos Vlastos under the patronage of Anna Notaras at Venice in 1499.

[2] The most recent complete edition is by Thomas Gaisford (Oxford 1848), with the slightly different title of Etymologicon Magnum.