, a lexicographer of considerable fame, was a native of Calepio
, 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.