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Medieval West - Reference Sources: Encyclopedias and Dictionaries - Science

This is a guide to reference sources on the medieval West: guides to the literature, periodical indexes, encyclopedias/dictionaries, atlases/maps, biography, book length bibliographies. Last updated 06-13-2023

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries - Science

Science in the Ancient World from Antiquity through the Middle Ages

Explores the history of science in the ancient world from prehistory through roughly 1300 CE, looking not just at Greece and Rome but at developments in Africa, Asia, and the Americas as well.  Chronology.  Bibliography. 

Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: an Encyclopedia Main Q 124.97 .M43 2005

Sebastian, Dictionary of the History of Medicine, Main R 121 .S398 1999. Short biographical and topical entries with no bibliographies.

McGrew, Encyclopedia of Medical History, Main, R 133 .M34 1985.

Dictionnaire Raisonne de l'Alchimie et des Alchimistes Main QD 23.5 .M66 2010

Chronology of Medicine and Related Sciences, Main, R 133 .M717 1997. See pp. 9-15.

Grant, Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages..., Main, Q 124.97 .G68 1996.

Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, Main, Z 125 .S32 v. 1-3. A significant author in the history of science field. A text, for reading up on topics. See esp. v. 2 part 1 and vol. 3 parts 1 and 2.

Duhem, Medieval Cosmology, Theories of Infinity, Place, Time, Void, and the Plurality of Worlds, Main, BD 512 .D813 1985. A new edition of one of the earliest works on history of science.

Lindberg, Beginnings of Western Science, the European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450, Main, Q 124.95 .L55 1992.

Kibre, Studies in Medieval Science, Alchemy, Astrology, Mathematics, and Medicine, Main, Q 124.97 .K53 1984.

Hurd-Mead, History of Women in Medicine, from the Earliest Times to the Beginnings of the Nineteenth Century, Main, R 133 .M35 v. 1. A text, for reading up. See esp. chapters 2-7.

Reader's Guide to the History of Science.  Ed. by Arne Hessenbruch.  Main Q 125 .R335 2000

Bertholomevs De Proprietatibus Rerum  Murray and Hong Special Collections xx AE 2 f .B3 1535

Primary source.  De Proprietatibus Rerum, by the Franciscan Bartholomaeus Anglicus, composed about 1240, is an early encyclopedia in 19 books covering topics: God, angels, the human body and soul, the sky and astrological and meterological phenomena, the world and its parts, precious stones, and plants and animals, ending with an appendix on colors, flavors, and measurements of objects.  It was one of the most important such works of the 13th through 15th centuries.  We know this because of the 200 some manuscript copies of it that were made and the numbers of translations of it into these vernacular languages: Anglo-Norman, Italian, French, Provencal, English, Spanish, and Dutch. There were also about 50 printed editions between 1470 and 1609.  MSU Libraries also has microform and online versions.  Check our online catalog by author for Bartholomaeus Anglicus.  Modern editions below.

De Proprietatibus Rerum Volume 6 Liber XVII   Main AE 2 .B27 2007 v. 6

One volume of  primary source, an early encyclopedia, by Franciscan Bartholomaeus Anglicus.  This volume  presents the Latin text of the book XVII in critical edition, based on five manuscripts.  It is devoted to botany and deals in 197 chapters with a succession of trees and plants, of which it describes their appearances, properties, and their practical and medicinal usages. 

De Proprietatibus Rerum, Libri III et IV, On the Properties of Soul and Body  Remote Storage BF 110 .B37 1979

Bos, Gerrit.  Concise Dictionary of Novel Medical and General Hebrew Terminology from the Middle Ages.  Main R 135.5 .B67 2019

"To map the medical terminology featuring in medieval Hebrew medical works... and to identify the medical terminology used by specific authors/translators to enable identification of anonymous medical material."