Friends of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae
The Thesaurus linguae Latinae is the most authoritative dictionary of ancient Latin in the world. It is the only lexicon to be based upon every single surviving Latin text from the earliest times down to AD 600. It is overseen and published by the International Thesaurus Committee, which comprises delegates from 38 learned societies representing every continent except Antarctica.
Three issues are published every two years. The project is 95% 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.
About us
Mission Statement
The Friends of the Thesaurus linguae Latinae (TLL) exists to provide support for
continuing work to bring to completion the 130-year-old project to compile a
comprehensive dictionary of all the surviving sources of Latin from the earliest evidence
until the emergence of its Romance heirs. We aim to complement the support provided
by the German government and the state of Bavaria, the long-term funders of the
project through the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. We have three principal goals:
1. To ensure the continuation of an annual American fellow at the TLL, following the end
of the support for this fellowship provided by the Society for Classical Studies with
funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the past four decades.
These fellowships not only help the TLL advance; they also provide an experience that
transforms the fellows’ subsequent research and teaching. For this goal we must raise
the annual cost of the fellowship (currently $62,000) and ultimately, we hope, endow it
(see under #3).
2. To provide stable employment to normal retirement age for one of the Americans on
the permanent staff of the TLL, whose work cannot be continued as an employee of the
government and on government funding after 2029 because of restrictions in German
labor law; another employer and funding source must therefore be found to retain this
scholar, since productivity in such a specialized discipline as lexicography is in direct
proportion to experience. For this goal we must raise the annual cost of a scientific
researcher from 2030 to 2054 at the cost of $120,000 p.a. or create an endowment (see
under #3).
3. To look beyond the end of the government support for the TLL in mid-century, in
order to complete the dictionary, including additions to the database from newly found
texts, and, more broadly, to sustain its quarters in Munich as a center of scholarship on
the Latin language and the training of early-career philologists. For this goal we will
seek to establish a large permanent endowment fund. A first step towards this would be
to raise a capital sum of $1,750,000, which would endow the annual fellowship,
described under #1, at a modest increase to $70,000 p.a. A further step would be to
raise a capital sum of $3 million, which would endow the permanent position described
under #2.
The Friends of the TLL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed to raise funds to
support the progress of the TLL and, ultimately, ensure its survival as the single most
important center for the study of Latin worldwide. You may make your gift at the DONATE button on this page or make out a check to Friends of the TLL and send it to: Friends of the TLL, P. O. Box 380030, Cambridge, MA 02238. To make gifts of stock, please use this button:
