Calepin, Ambrose

, a lexicographer of considerable fame, was a native of Calepio near Bergamo in Italy, from which he took his name, and lived in the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century. He took the habit of the Augustine order, and was much esteemed for learning and personal character. His “Lexicon,” on which he had laboured for many years, appeared first in 1503. He died in 1510, deprived of his sight through old age, but had employed his latter days in reviewing and correcting his work. It appears to have had the fate of Moreri’s Dictionary, to have fallen into the hands of editors who by repeated corrections and enlargements, rendered it a publication of some consequence. The editors of Stephanus’ Thesaurus concur, with Erasmus, Ludovicus Vives, Borrichius, and others, in speaking with great contempt of Calepin, and, perhaps, with more than he deserves. Jacobus Philippius only, of that age, speaks respectfully of Calepin. The Lexicon, however, has gone through fifteen editions, with successive improvements, the best of which are that of Chifflet, Lyons, 1681, 2 vols.fol. and that of Facciolati, Padua, 1758, also in 2 vols. fol. Christopher Wase’s Latin Dictionary, the second edition of which was published at Oxford in 1675, is a very judicious compendium of Calepin. ²

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