LatinEdit Overview

LatinEdit is a Mac OSX program aimed at assisting transcription and translation of documents between Latin & English.


The program’s main window allows you to transcribe from a graphics file, and provides twin text editing fields for side by side translations. There is an incorporated Latin-English / English-Latin dictionary and facility for footnotes, vocabulary, revision and declining and conjugating words.


The basic lookup dictionary is based on WORDS by William Whitaker, and uses the Mac engine The Mac version of the dictionary was ported by David Sanson. I have recompiled his executable to make it compatible with the Sandbox requirements of the App Store.


Lewis' Elementary Latin dictionary is included. This was parsed from text provided by Perseus Digital Library, with funding from a gift in the name of Carol F. Ross. Original version available for viewing and download at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/.


The Lewis & Short Latin dictionary is included. This was parsed from text provided by Perseus Digital Library, with funding from a gift in the name of Carol F. Ross. Original version available for viewing and download at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/.


I have added the the Hunspell Latin spellchecker, written by Karl Zeiler.


LatinEdit now supports progressive parsing. If you have never tried it, you will be surprised by how much it improves your reading fluency. In this technique you uncover one word at a time so you can develop the facility to read naturally.


System Requirements

Please note that this version requires at least Mac OS 10.13.

There is no Windows version.

Changes in 1.2

Word tool to allow you to guess the meaning of abbreviations in mediaeval documents.

Latin Localisation.

Bug fixes in layout of translated words in Dictionary window.

Known Problems

Initially when opening a document window the Styles bar may be hidden. Clicking in the relevant field will show the Styles bar.


Changes in 1.3

An Elementary Latin Dictionary by Charlton Lewis has been included.

It is now possible to search Lewis' dictionary using a regex search.

Changes in 1.5

Lewis and Short included

New structured document view now available

App will now import XML documents from Perseus

Changes in 1.4

Hunspell Latin spellchecker, written by Karl Zeiler added

Progressive text uncovering

Changes in 1.6

Dictionary window can be made to float above other windows

Word search window to make finding words for poetry easier

Dark mode supported

Changes in 1.7

Dictionary window can be made to float above other windows

Word search window to make finding words for poetry easier

Changes in 1.8

Compiled for Apple Silicon

Toolbar icons in ordered text view

Changes in 1.9

LatinEdit can now search for abbreviations from Cappelli