Hesychius of Alexandria

HESYCHIUS OF ALEXANDRIA. - Greek lexicographer, of whom nothing is available but the scanty information contained in the title of his work — which, moreover, without any serious reason, has been considered spurious by some; conjectures about the period of his life range from the 4th century to the latest Byzantine era.

He is the author of a vast Greek lexicon, which derives substantially from that of Diogenianus of Heraclea, who lived in the age of Hadrian. The numerous interpolations to which the lexicon (which has come down to us in an abridged form) has been subjected are proved, among other things, by the fact that it does not observe the order set out in the preface to Eulogius. In all likelihood Hesychius was paid. Since numerous biblical and ecclesiastical glosses are found in the text of his work, it has been thought that it was contaminated with that of a namesake, whom some have sought to identify with a bishop Hesychius, of the 3rd century, a translator of Holy Scripture. But since this hypothesis does not rest on secure foundations, it is generally held that those interpolations are of a late period. In fact the true value of the work lies in its citations from ancient texts and in the information it provides on the Greek dialects: it has therefore offered in modern times the possibility of correcting a good number of erroneous readings.

Luigi Aurigemma