Our Project
Every surviving instance of every Latin word down to approximately AD 200, and all the lexicographically significant instances from the remaining corpus down to AD 600, is copied onto a slip in the Thesaurus archives.
There are 10 million slips altogether, comprising the raw material from which the lexicographers compile their articles on the individual words; to call these articles “entries” would give a misleading impression of their scope and depth.
The dictionary is being compiled in alphabetical order within each letter. The project began in 1894. So far A–M and P have been finished, N and R are partially complete, and Q, S, T, U, V, X, and Z remain to be tackled.
The International Thesaurus Committee
The dictionary is overseen and published by the International Thesaurus Committee, which comprises delegates from 38 learned societies representing every continent except Antarctica.
Three fascicles are published every two years. The project is funded by a grant from the German government, supplemented by contributions from the member societies according to their means. Some countries, including the USA, also send an annual Fellow to be trained in lexicography and compose articles for the dictionary.
Short-term summer fellows, normally graduate students, receive highly concentrated training over a period of 8–10 weeks, during which they are able to compose two or three short articles for the project.
