OF THE AUTHOR

...having been freed from heavier cares, he applies himself to these lighter studies, and I had decided to take care that they should be printed. But reflecting on how those who release books into the public are exposed to the various judgments of men and the disparagement of "Zoiluses" zoilorum: harsh, hypercritical detractors named after Zoilus, a grammarian known for his critiques of Homer, who are accustomed to testing the sharpness of their own wit on the labors of others: I decided (most kind readers) to reserve this work with me for so long until it might be published as a completed whole along with the class of other books whose names we have listed in the index of our Encyclopediæ: here referring to a "circle of learning" or a comprehensive system of knowledge.

But at last, for several reasons, it was necessary to change my plan. For since the fame of this work was being spread while it was still "under the anvil" original: "sub incude" — a Latin idiom meaning a work is still in progress or being refined, I considered it advantageous not to delay further, but to diligently hasten the edition. This was due partly to the persistent requests of many friends, in whom a great desire for reading the work had long ago set in, and partly by the stirrings of the envious, who begrudged us this honor because this subject had been attempted by no one until now.

We, indeed, shall divide this whole business into two parts: namely, signifying secretly, and perceiving what has been signified. We have dedicated the first and second books to the former, and the third and fourth books to the latter. In the entire first book, we have written about the signa: signs or characters by which we signify—vocal vocalia: representing vowel sounds, semi-vocal semivocalia: consonants that have a continuous sound, like 'L' or 'M', and mute—how they are formed according to the instructions of the ancients and moderns, and both those that are visible and those that escape the sight. But those written with letters...

original vocabulary: Encyclopedia (universal knowledge), Zoiluses (critics), Vocal (vowels), Semi-vocal (half-vowels), Mute (consonants), Signs (symbols)