Hesychius of Alexandria

Who is Hesychius of Alexandria?

Hesychius of Alexandria, a Greek grammarian who flourished probably at the end of the 5th century AD, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived. The work, titled "Alphabetical Collection of All Words", includes more than 50.000 entries, a copious list of peculiar words, forms and phrases, with an explanation of their meaning, and often with a reference to the author who used them or to the district of Greece where they were current. Hence, the book is of great value to the student of the Greek dialects, while in the restoration of the text of the classical authors generally, and particularly of such writers as Aeschylus and Theocritus, who used many unusual words, its value can hardly be exaggerated. Hesychius is important, not only for Greek philology, but also for studying lost languages and obscure dialects and in reconstructing Proto-Indo-European. Many of the words that are included in this work are not found in surviving ancient Greek texts.