Suda

It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers.

[2] The transmitted title (paradosis) is "Suida", which is also attested in Eustathius' commentary on Homer's epic poems; several conjectures has been made, both defending it and trying to correct it in "Suda".

[3] Other suggestions include Jan Sajdak's theory that σοῦδα / σουίδα may derive from sanskrit suvidyā (which he translated into Latin: perfecta cumulataque scientia, "collected and systemized knowledge");[17][18] Giuseppe Scarpat's link to an unidentified Judas, the supposed author of the Lexicon;[19] and Hans Gerstinger's explanation which points at Russian sudá "here", as the answer to the question "τί ποῦ κεῖται;" "what is it and where is it?".

The order is: α, β, γ, δ, αι, ε, ζ, ει, η, ι, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, ο, ω, π, ρ, σ, τ, οι, υ, φ, χ, ψ[26]In addition, double letters are treated as single for the purposes of collation (as gemination had ceased to be distinctive).

He probably lived in the second half of the 10th century, because the death of emperor John I Tzimiskes and his succession by Basil II and Constantine VIII are mentioned in the entry under "Adam" which is appended with a brief chronology of the world.

[27] The standard printed edition was compiled by Danish classical scholar Ada Adler in the first half of the twentieth century.