The Arthurian Name Dictionary

by Christopher W. Bruce (Editor)

Overview

This text presents a comprehensive dictionary of characters, places, objects and themes found in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Information is drawn from significant Arthurian sources between Gildas's "De Excidio Britanniae" (c.540) and Tennyson's 19th-century "Idylls of the King". The book contains names extracted from over 250 original Arthurian texts and includes information on characters such as Lancelot and Gawain, places such as Camelot and Camlann, objects such as Excalibur and the Holy Grail and themes such as the Sword in the Stone and the beheading game. Each entry provides a description of the name, including possible origins or historical basis of the name, and major characters and themes are discussed extensively and their evolution through the series of texts is traced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815328650
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/01/1998
Series:	Garland Reference Library of the Humanities , #2063
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	8.62(w) x 10.88(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

Foreword, Preface, Select Bibliography, The Arthurian Name Dictionary, Sources

Editorial Reviews

"...extremely invaluable...a fascinating read and a very useful reference tool...that most large and public libraries should have." — Reference Books Bulletin
"Serious students of the Arthurian legends will find this a useful and informative resource." — School Library Journal
"...a valuable tool for study and enjoyment of an already-essential myth of our cilivization and greatly to be recommended to individual readers and libraries alike." — Arthuriana
"An excellent companion to The New Arthurian Encyclopedia... It includes all the characters and places; for the major Arthurian texts, the work is comprehensive." — Booklist/RBB
"Even experienced students of Arthurian literature will find plenty of new discoveries in Bruce's dictionary. Here the unbelievably wide "world" of Arthurian romance that William Caxton marveled at in 1483 is itemized in fascinating, specific detail. The book should be a gold mine for future Arthurian novelists as well as treasure for the inquisitive scholar." — Jennifer R. Goodman, Texas A&M University, Speculum

From the Publisher

Gr 9 Up-Serious students of the Arthurian legends will find this a useful and informative resource. More than 5000 alphabetical entries include the people, places, items, and themes found in Arthurian literature written between the 6th and 19th centuries. The text goes beyond simple definitions, incorporating background on how individuals fit into a particular legend and/or their evolution as characters in the stories. Significant figures such as Guinevere and Merlin warrant several pages. While alternate spellings or names follow the main entries, they are not cross-referenced and there is no name index. A "Source Index" consists of an annotated listing of the hundreds of resources from which the editor drew his material. While some readers may find more detail here than they want, enthusiasts will find that they have tapped into a wellspring of information.-Cheri Estes, Detroit Country Day School Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A comprehensive encyclopedia of characters, places, objects, and themes found in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table. Draws from all significant source between Gildas' written about 540 AD and Tennyson's 19th-century , including versions from throughout Europe. The entries range from a short identifying sentence to nearly ten pages for the king himself. Each is referenced to a source, which are presented in a endtable showing author and title; date, form, and language; description; keywords from the entries; and recent editions, a vital bit of information such references usually neglect. The cross-referencing is fairly good, often done as a full entry identifying a name as a variant of another, so the lack of an index is not a problem. Distributed in the US by Taylor and Francis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

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