CALEPINO, AMBROGIO. - Of the family of the counts of Caleppio, b. at Caleppio (Bergamo), around 1440, and d. in 1510 or 1511. An Augustinian friar of extremely wide learning; he knew Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
Moreover, he did not neglect to apply himself to the sciences as well. He devoted almost his whole life to the compilation of the well-known Dictionarium, to which he initially gave the title Cornucopia and which was first published in 1502 at Reggio Emilia. This dictionary was subsequently called Calepino and more precisely had the character of an encyclopedia. In half a century, namely from 1542 to 1592, it was published eighteen times by a single publisher. The most important editions were that of Basel of 1590 in two languages and that edited by Jacopo Facciolati, in seven languages, at Pavia in 1718, itself subsequently reproduced in many editions. C.'s work was enlarged by Passerat, Luigi de la Cerda, and Chifflet.