Calʹepin (A)

A dictionary. (Italian, calepino.) Ambrosio Calepino, of Calepio, in Italy, was the author of a dictionary, so that “my Calepin,” like my Euclid, my Johnson, according to Cocker, etc., have become common nouns from proper names. Generally called Calʹepin, but the subjoined quotation throws the accent on the le.

“Whom do you prefer

For the best linguist? And I seelily

Said that I thought Calepine’s Dictionary.”

Dr. Donne: Fourth Satire.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.