Spanish Dictionaries
The Spanish Language
Dictionaries, Dialects, History
Part One : Castilian
(Call Number Range PC 4001-4977)
Medieval Spanish (and Ladino, Andalusi Arabic)
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language – To 1500 -- Dictionaries
Diccionario del español medieval. Bodo Müller. (Ongoing project: up to Almo complete)
Covers the Spanish language up to c. 1400, based on 500 texts (listed). Entries include
etymology, quotes from texts, and references to other sources. Up to complete.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4715 .Z5 M8 1994 QUARTO
Diccionario medieval español : desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s.X) hasta el siglo XV.
Martín Alonso. 2 volumes
The “fullest attempt yet at a dictionary of medieval Spanish”. A handy, concise historical
dictionary with very brief quotations. Parts of speech, etymology, earliest century found, definition,
and quotations.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4715 .Z5 A45 1986
Vocabulario medieval castellano. Julio Cejador y Frauca.
Alphabetical listing of words no longer used, or those with different meanings. Examples from
medieval texts.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4715 .Z5 C4 1990
A Medieval Spanish word list. V. Oelschlager.
Very useful list, based on published texts from the 10th century to Berceo. Attempts to date 1st
appearance of words.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4715 .Z5 O4 1940 QUARTO
Glosarios latino-españoles de la Edad Media. Américo Castro.
An edition of the manuscript glossaries followed by an alphabetical dictionary (under Latin or
Latinate forms), with important etymological notes.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 356 .C3 1991
Diccionario básico ladino-español. Pascual Pascual Recuero.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4813.4 .P3 1977
A dictionary of Andalusi Arabic. F. Corriente
A dictionary of the Arabic of medieval Spain, entirely in Latin transliteration. Much attention to
etymology. Includes English glosses and brief quotations.
D Level Blue Labels:
PJ 6756 .C67 1997
Early Modern Spanish
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language—Classical Period,1500-1700
Tesoro lexicografico (1492-1726) (Incomplete: A-E finished before author’s death)
A re-publication, in alphabetical order, of the entries from all the main Spanish dictionaries
published between 1492 and 1726 (up to the 1st edition of the Diccionario de la lengua española).
A handy compilation, often very informative on grammarians’ opinions and on older usage.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4625 .G5 1947 QUARTO
Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española. Sebastián de Covarrubias Horozco
Un diccionario del español obra del erudito español Sebastián de Covarrubias publicado en
1611. Es el primer diccionario general monolingüe del castellano, es decir, el primero en que el
léxico castellano es definido en esta misma lengua. Es también el primer diccionario de este tipo
publicado en Europa para una lengua vulgar.
General Reference:
PC 4620 .C7 2006
D Level Blue Labels (2 copies):
PC 4620 .C7 1994 and 1977 QUARTO
Also a DVD:
DVD ROM 54
Diccionario de castellano antiguo léxico español medieval y del Siglo de Oro
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4715 .Z5 G87 2002
Glosario de voces comentadas en ediciones de textos clásicos. C. Fontecha
Compilation of definitions taken from numerous critical editions. Of great value for reading Golden
age and other literature.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4628.F6 1941
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Historical Dictionaries
Diccionario de la lengua española. Real Academia Española.
In 1713, The Spanish Academy (Madrid) was founded, with one of its chief aims – a compilation
of an authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language, using quotes from the greatest Spanish
writers. The dictionary included obsolete words, proverbs, and etymologies. The use of
quotations was later abandoned, and the dictionary reduced to 1 volume. The authority for
contemporary Spanish usage, as well as for etymology; generally conservative in accepting new
words. Includes scientific and technical words, as well as many Latin American and Philippine
words and phrases.
The Sheridan Libraries own many editions:
1st edition (1726-39)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1726-39 Q (6 volumes)
General Reference (facsimile in 3 vol.) PC 4620 .R43 1963
D Level Blue Labels (facsimile in 3 vol.) PC 4620 .R43 1963 (2 copies)
2nd edition (1783)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1783 Q
3rd edition (1791)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1791 Q
4th edition (1803
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1803 Q
5th edition (1817)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1817 Q
6th edition (1822)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1822 Q
7th edition (1824)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1824 Q
8th edition ()
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1791 Q
9th edition (1843)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1843 Q
10th edition (1852)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1852 Q
11th edition (1869)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1869 Q
12th edition (1884)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1884 Q
13th edition (1899)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1899 Q
14th edition (1914)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 1914 Q
(Missing 15th [1925] )
16th edition (1939)
Special Collections PC 4625 .A3 1939
(Missing 17th [1947] )
18th edition (1956)
Special Collections PJ 619 .A2 Q 1956
19th edition (1970)
D Level Blue Labels PC 4625 .A3 1970
20th edition (1984)
D Level Blue Labels PC 4625 .A3 1984 Q (2 copies)
21st edition (1992)
D Level Blue Labels PC 4625 .A3 1992 (2 copies)
22nd edition (2001)
General Reference PC 4625 .A3 2001
CD-ROM of 21st edition:
Audio/Visual Comp File 2260
Online version of the 22nd edition
http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/
Diccionario de construcción y regimen de la lengua castellana. R.J. Cuervo. 8 volumes
Long articles with numerous brief quotations. Described as “the best dictionary of Spanish that
there is”.
General Reference:
PC 4625 .D52 1994 QUARTO
Diccionario histórico de la lengua española. Real Academia Española. Ongoing
Intended to cover the whole history of the Spanish language from its first recorded beginnings in
the early Middle Ages, and to include Latin American standards and dialects, Mozarabic, and
Judezmo. Closely modeled on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), with brief, dated quotations
(often divided into 3 paragraphs for medieval, early modern, and modern. This last indicating a
corresponding entry in the RAE’s Diccionario de la lengua española). Compilation of the different
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usages of each word through the centuries. An “exemplary work”, but very slow in production. A-
Baj covered so far.
General Reference:
PC 4625.R4 1972 QUARTO
Enciclopedia del idioma; diccionario histórico y moderno de la lengua española (siglos 12 al 20)
etimológico, tecnológico, regional e hispanoamericano. M.Alonso. 3 volumes.
A brief-entry dictionary. For selected words, gives precise references to source texts.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4667 .A4 1958
Modern Language Dictionaries
Spanish /Spanish Dictionaries
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language--Dictionaries
Diccionario de la lengua española. Real Academia Española.
See above listing of editions.
Gran diccionario de la lengua española : diccionario de uso. SGEL
Over 60,000 entries with definition, examples of usage (current, rather than literary),
pronunciation, synonyms, antonyms. Includes common technical terms and Americanisms.
Grammar summary (29 pages)
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4625.G73 1989
Diccionario general de la lengua española: ilustrado. VOX
About 100,000 entries, including Americanisms and technical terms. Gives etymologies and
synonyms, lists of geographical terms and foreign phrases. “Authoritative, comprehensive, up to
date.”
General Reference :
PC 4625 .D534 1997 QUARTO
Diccionario de uso del español. María Moliner 2 volumes
One of the most important 20th century Spanish dictionaries.
General Reference :
PC 4625 .M6 1998
D Level Blue Labels :
PC 4625 .M6 1966 Quarto
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Diccionario de voces de uso actual. M. Alvar Ezquerra
A dictionary of words currently used in Spanish but which do not appear in the Academy’s
dictionary. Includes quotations that show the words’ use.
D Level Blue Labels :
PC 4625 .D46 1994
Spanish / English Dictionaries
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language—Dictionaries--English
English language--Dictionaries---Spanish
Collins Spanish-English / English-Spanish dictionary.
Considered one of the best single volume bilingual dictionaries. Frequent new editions (there are
several previous editions in the stacks on D Level). Emphasis is on current usage; includes
Peninsular, Latin American, and American Spanish. English is both British and American.
General Reference:
PC 4640 .C53 2004
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4640 .C53 2004, 2002, 1997, 1993, 1992, 1972 editions
Oxford Spanish Dictionary: Spanish-English / English-Spanish.
Over 275,000 words; a rival to the Collins for best bilingual dictionary. The language is up-to-date,
and includes Latin American Spanish. Abbreviations, acronyms, proper names in main sequence.
Extra features: guide for users, verb tables, guide to correspondence.
General Reference:
PC 4640 .O94 2001 (2008 edition is On order)
General Reference:
Oxford Concise Spanish Dictionary PC 4640 .O94 2004
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4640 .O94 2003, 1997, 1996, 1994
Larousse gran diccionario : inglés-español, español-inglés
Wide-ranging coverage of literary, technical and professional vocabulary, and of Latin American
Spanish. Notes on grammar usage, pronunciation.
General Reference:
PC 4640 .L393 2004 QUARTO
Harrap’s dictionary: Spanish-English/Inglès-Español
Over 400,000 words.
General Reference:
PC 4640 .H334 2003 QUARTO
Simon and Schuster’s International Dictionary: English-Spanish/Spanish-English
One of the largest bilingual dictionaries. Includes scientific and technical terms. Strong on Latin
American.
General Reference:
PC 640 .S48 1973 QUARTO
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The Oxford-Duden pictorial Spanish and English dictionary
Lists terms relating to grouped images. Provides many technical terms relating to specialized
occupations.
General Reference:
PC 4629 .O94 1995
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4629 .O94 1995
Etymology
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language -- Etymology - - Dictionaries
Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico. Joan Corominas. 6 volumes.
The most scholarly etymological dictionary, with numerous quotations from sources (listed at the
front of Vol. 1), and lengthy commentary on each word.
General Reference:
PC 4580 .C59 1980
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4580 .C59 1954
Elsevier's concise Spanish etymological dictionary. Guido Gómez de Silva.
Gives the English equivalent and traces the history of 10,000 terms, including many personal and
place names, prefixes and suffixes.
General Reference:
PC 4580 .G65 1985
Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico. Vicente García de Diego.
Part 1 is an alphabetical list of modern words, which functions as an index to Part 2, a series of
word histories. Covers Catalan and Portuguese as well as Spanish.
D level:
PJ 580 .G3 1955
Registro de lexicografía hispánica. Miguel Romera-Navarro.
Gives 80,000 references in 3134 sources to a listing of 50,000 words.
D level:
PJ 580 .R75 1951
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History of the Spanish Language
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language--History
A history of the Spanish language. R. Penny.
Emphasis is on “internal history” (historical grammar), but an introductory chapter surveys
“external history”, or the circumstances in which Spanish has been spoken and written. Covers
phonology, morpho-syntax, lexis, and semantics.
D Level:
PJ 75 .P46 1991
Introducción a la historia de la lengua española. A. Quilis.
With accompanying CD-ROM (Compact Disk 317)
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4075 .Q55 2003
A history of the Spanish language through texts. C.J. Pountain.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4075 .P69 2001
Dialects of Spanish
Dialectología española. Alonso Zamora Vicente.
Libraries Service Center:
PJ 711 .Z35 1979
Manual de dialectología española.
Libraries Service Center:
PJ 711 .G2 1946
To locate dictionaries and grammars of the dialects of Spanish in Spain, do an Alphabetical
search in the catalog on Subjects—Library of Congress.
Type in:
Spanish language--Dialects- -Spain--Name of dialect
Some of the major dictionaries of dialects of Spanish include:
Andalusian
Dialectología andaluza : estudios : historia, fonética y fonología, lexicología, metodología,
onomasiología y comentario filológico. José Mondéjar. 2 volumes.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4806 .M62 2001
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Vocabulario popular andaluz. Francisco Alvarez Curiel.
LSC:
PJ 806 .A48 1991
Vocabulario andaluz. Antonio Alcalá Venceslada.
LSC:
PJ 807 .A6 1980
Aragonese
El dialecto aragonés. Manuel Alvar
LSC:
PJ 781 .A61 1953
Asturian
El Cuarto de los Valles; un habla del occidente asturiano. 2 volumes
LSC:
PJ 786 .M45 1963
Leonese
El habla de Villacidayo, León.
LSC:
AS 302 .M18 Suppl. no.13
Canary Islands
Gran diccionario del habla canaria. Alfonso O'Shanahan.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4815 .C25 O7 1995
Diccionario de canarismos. Antonio Lorenzo, Marcial Morera, Gonzalo Ortega.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4815 .C25 L67 1995
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Slang Dictionaries
Library of Congress Subject Heading:
Spanish language--Slang- -Dictionaries
Gran diccionario del argot : el sohez. Delfín Carbonell Basset.
"[D]e autoridades del español cotidiano, popular, familiar, coloquial, grosero y malhablado, con
eufemismos, insultos, clichés, solecismos, barbarismos, ñoñerias, jergas y piadosismos"--Cover.
D Level Blue Labels :
PC 4971 .C37 2000
Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular. Víctor León.
Based on the speech of Barcelona, Zaragoza, Bilbao, and Sevilla, as well as on the slang in 130
novels by contemporary authors. Includes a useful bibliography of studies on Spanish slang.
D Level Blue Labels:
PC 4971 .L46 1992
Diccionario de argot. Julia Sanmartín Sáez.
"Más de 4,700 voces y 5,300 ejemplos reales de uso"--Cover. Includes bibliographical
references.
D Level Blue Labels :
PC 4971 .S26 1998
Diccionario secreto. Camilio José Cela. 2 volumes
A dictionary of Spanish taboo words, illustrated in passages from writers. The meanings of the
words are analyzed.
D Level Blue Labels :
PC 4974 .O2 C4 1968
Researching the Spanish Languages
MLA International bibliography
The major database for articles (mostly in English) on the Spanish language (and literature).
Includes Catalan, Galician, Basque. An essential resource.
Available from the Libraries’ main Web page, under “Search a Database”
Linguistics Abstracts Online
Contains abstracts of scholarly articles appearing in linguistics journals from around the world.
Also includes abstracts from articles in related fields.
Available from the Libraries’ main Web page, under “Search a Database”
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Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
Covers the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and
semantics. Coverage is also given to various fields of linguistics including descriptive, historical,
comparative, theoretical, and geographical linguistics.
Available from the Libraries’ main Web page, under “Search a Database”
Resources used in this Guide, and for a more complete listing and description of many kinds of
Spanish dictionaries:
Walford’s guide to reference material. Volume 3: Generalia, language & literature, the arts.
“Romance Languages: Spanish” p. 603-608. (many of the descriptions in this guide are taken verbatim
from Walford’s)
D Level:
Z 1035 .W25 1993
A Guide to world language dictionaries. Andrew Dalby. “Spanish” p. 395-403.
General Reference:
P 361.D25 1998
Guide to reference works for the study of the Spanish Language and literature and Spanish
American literature. Hensley C. Woodbridge
Pages 9-41 cover dictionaries and the Spanish language.
General Reference:
Z 2695 .A2W66 1997
A Sourcebook for Hispanic literature and language. Donald Bleznick
Chapter 10 (pages 206-246) covers “Hispanic Liguistics”, including dictionaries, grammar,
dialects, etc.
General Reference:
Z 2695 .A2B55 1995
Iberian Studies Web, from the Western European Studies Section of ACRL.
http://wess.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Iberian_Reference_Shelf
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Other Resources
Bibliografía cronológica de la lingüística, la gramática y la lexicografía del español (BICRES).
H-J. Niederehe
Lists over 1000 titles chronologically, including Spanish grammars and dictionaries, histories of
the language, and studies on particular facets of its evolution. Bibliography of sources and
studies. Several indexes (author, short title, place of publication, printer, location).
D Level:
PJ 20 .N48 1994
Bibliografía cronológica de la lingüística, la gramática y la lexicografía del español (BICRES II)
: desde el año 1601 hasta el año 1700. H-J. Niederehe.
D Level:
Z 2695 .A2N54 1995
Dictionaries in early modern Europe: lexicography and the making of heritage. John Considine.
D Level Blue Labels:
P 327.45 .E85C66 2008
Dictionaries of foreign languages. R. L. Collison.
D Level:
Z 7004 .D5 C6 1955
A history of foreign-language dictionaries. R. L. Collison.
LSC:
P 327 .C61 1982
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