Abstract

Philosophical and grammatical studies on etymologies (or rather pseudo-etymologies) have contributed to the compilation of various erudite works devoted to this topic from the 5th c. BCE on. However, the first etymological dictionary seems to have been that compiled by Orion of Thebes (5th c. CE), which then constituted one of the major sources of Late Antique and Byzantine Etymologica (these latter having encyclopedic character rather than being strictly etymological dictionaries).