Monumentum Wiesthalerianum: Wiesthalerjev latinsko-slovenski slovar 1894-2005

The publication of a Latin-Slovene dictionary was the main condition imposed by the Austrian government if Slovene was to be permitted as the language of Latin lessons at the upper gymnasium level. Modelled on the most frequently used German and English dictionaries (Georges, Lewis­ Short), the dictionary was begun by Fran Wiesthaler and his team in 1895. Despite the unfavourable political and financial situation, it was finished as early as 1914, but the lack of funding and the outbreak of World War I prevented its publication. After the war, preparations for publication were enabled by the sponsorship of the Church, but the work stopped in 1925, and the chief editor, Wiesthaler, died in 1927. The first volume of the dictionary (the entries A-Jacilis) was published nine years later, after which the project was brought to a standstill again for over half a century. It was revived in the late 1990's by the publishing house Kres, which recruited a team to continue the work. The completion of the dictionary is scheduled for  2005, when the  last  (sixth) volume and  an  appendix with  the missing entries are  due  to appear. Further plans include an abridged (college) version and an electronic edition, either on a CD or online in the framework of a project. This dictionary remains the   most ambitious enterprise ever undertaken in the national Latin studies