bavarikon4UOrbis Latinus (Großausgabe/full edition, 1972)
In its almost 150 years of publication history, the Orbis Latinus has developed over the course of four editions into the most comprehensive directory of Latin place names from antiquity to modern times. Above all, the full version of the fourth edition, compiled by Helmut Plechl (b. 1920), which appeared in three volumes in 1972, multiplied the word stock and established the work as an indispensable reference for historical studies.
The History of the Orbis Latinus
The librarian, art historian and literary scholar Johann Georg Theodor Graesse (1814-1885) was the private librarian of King Friedrich August II of Saxony. (1797-1854). From 1871, he was director of the "Grüne Gewölbe" (Green Vaults) of the Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresdens (Dresden State Art Collections) and, from 1877, also of the königliche Münzsammlung (Royal Coin Collection).
His practical museum work led to the Orbis Latinus, published in 1861, oder: Verzeichnis der lateinischen Benennungen der bekanntesten Städte etc., Meere, Seen, Berge und Flüsse in allen Theilen der Erde nebst einem deutsch-lateinischen Register derselben; ein Supplement zu jedem lateinischen und geographischen Wörterbuche (or: Index of Latin names of the most famous cities etc., seas, lakes, mountains and rivers in all parts of the world together with a German-Latin register of them; a supplement to every Latin and geographical dictionary). As he wrote in his foreword, his primary concern was not to create a comprehensive Latin geographical lexicon, but only a small working aid for "Leser [...], für den Literaturhistoriker und Bibliographen, für den Archivar und Numismatiker und endlich für Jeden, der lateinisch zu schreiben hat [...]." (readers [...], for literary historians and bibliographers, for archivists and numismatists and finally for everyone who has to write in Latin [...]).
Although this first edition already listed numerous lemmas from all over the world, it contained extensive gaps, especially with regard to smaller locations. In 1909, a second edition followed, almost twice the size. The revision and expansion was carried out by Friedrich Benedict (b. 1850), professor at the University of Wroclaw. He systematically evaluated already published sources and historical works, for example the editions of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica and Hermann Oesterleys (1834-1891) Historisch-geographisches Wörterbuch des deutschen Mittelalters (1883).
Benedict increased the number of keywords of the Orbis, in particular with regard to Central Europe and to the Middle Ages, while largely neglecting the non-European area and the early modern period, which was important for the numismatist Graesse. Nevertheless, the work was re-published in 1922 – unchanged in content – in a third edition.
After WWII, the university professor, mediaeval researcher and ancillary scientist Helmut Plechl, together with Sophie-Charlotte Plechl, systematically developed the fourth edition of the Orbis Latinus, which was published in 1971 (one-volume pocket edition) and 1972 (three-volume full edition). It is the complete compilation of Latin place names, as it has not been achieved since. Plechl’s arrangement also contains numerous names of monasteries, mountains, bodies of water and lakes beyond mere place names; the names date from antiquity to the fading of the (academically cultivated) Latinity in the nineteenth century.
The lemmas of the Orbis Latinus are not phonetic, but strictly alphabetical; the modern place names follow a no longer used transliteration (e.g. Honschiu instead of Honshu), especially for non-European names. For the German area, the internal and external political administrative borders of 1937 were taken into account. For places belonging to Poland or Russia since the end of WWII, the current place names are usually listed additionally.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).