THE HIES OPEN LIBRARY
Richard Cleasby & Guðbrandur Vigfússon • 1874
Category: ADVANCED REFERENCE
An Icelandic-English Dictionary is a major historical dictionary of Old Icelandic and Old Norse vocabulary based upon the manuscript collections of the English philologist Richard Cleasby and enlarged and completed by Icelandic scholar Guðbrandur Vigfússon.
The dictionary provides extensive English definitions, textual references, linguistic observations, and historical information for vocabulary encountered throughout Old Norse and medieval Icelandic literature. Its scope makes it particularly valuable for advanced reading and textual research involving the Eddas, sagas, poetry, historical writings, and related primary sources.
This Open Library entry uses the 1874 edition of An Icelandic-English Dictionary, published at the Clarendon Press in Oxford. The work was based on the manuscript collections of Richard Cleasby and enlarged and completed by Guðbrandur Vigfússon.
As a nineteenth-century scholarly reference work, its terminology, organization, linguistic conventions, and interpretations reflect the scholarship of its period. It remains an important historical reference for Old Norse language study but should be used critically and alongside contemporary linguistic resources where appropriate.
Old Norse Language
Old Icelandic Vocabulary
Lexicography
Philology
Reading & Translation
Eddic & Saga Vocabulary
Textual Research
Historical Linguistics
An Icelandic-English Dictionary provides an advanced language and textual reference for the study of Old Norse and Old Icelandic sources at Hákonarætt Institute of Eddic Studies.
It is especially relevant to advanced work involving Old Norse vocabulary, Eddic and saga literature, philology, translation, textual interpretation, historical linguistics, and direct engagement with primary sources in their original language.
Inclusion in the Open Library does not mean that every entry or portion of the dictionary is assigned in every HIES course. Specific readings and language exercises are identified within individual courses on the HIES Learning Platform.
This resource is available online through the University of Pennsylvania Online Books Page.
Title: An Icelandic-English Dictionary
Richard Cleasby's Role: Original manuscript collections
Editor and Completer: Guðbrandur Vigfússon
Contributor: George Webbe Dasent
Publication Year: 1874
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Publication Place: Oxford
Resource Type: Advanced Language Reference / Dictionary
Languages: Old Icelandic / English