Enriching the LLT: Taxonomy

On 18 July, the Library of Latin Texts received its first biannual content update of 2025. With 23 new texts added, the world’s leading database of literary Latin now offers access to over 167 million words. Notable additions include Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum naturale and Bartholomew of Urbino’s Milleloquium veritatis sancti Augustini. Read more about this update in the LLT’s ‘Manual’.

In the previous blogpost, we explained why we introduced the lexicological resources that make searching the LLT and investigating individual word-forms more versatile. Today, we are excited to share another major enhancement: the addition of a taxonomical tree, – a structured classification system that helps users navigate Latin literature through meaningful categories.

Why Taxonomy Matters

As the Library of Latin Texts continues to grow, so does the need for structure. To help users explore the corpus more effectively, we have introduced a set of four filters that allow texts to be grouped by shared characteristics. They are:

• Style;
• Genre;
• Topic;
• Area of origin.

While assigning these characteristics is not an exact science, we believe the benefits of this structured approach far outweigh the occasional ambiguity. We have tried to use self-explanatory labels across the application; the explanations in the manual of the LLT clarify each category’s meaning and intention.

Style: Prose, Verse, or Both?

The style category allows you to distinguish between texts:

• In prose;
• In verse, or;
• In a mixed form (e.g. prosimetra such as Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis).

Genre: What Type of Text?

Each text is assigned a single genre, regardless of its time period or cultural background. While we have tried to use self-explanatory labels, we refer to the Manual of the application in case any of the categories turns out to be unclear.

An important principle we adhere to is that a work’s genre should always be considered in conjunction with its style. This explains why an epic poem such as the Aeneid will be classified under the genre ‘Narrative texts’, its poetic nature already being covered by the style ‘Verse’.

Topic: What Does the Text Talk About?

Texts in the LLT can be tagged with one or more topics. The list of potential topics has been limited to about ten items, enabling us to classify all texts into a number of broad categories.

Texts can be tagged with multiple topics, offering a nuanced view of their content. A broad encyclopaedic work such as Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum doctrinale will therefore be classified under a number of topics.

Area of Origin: A Modern Map for (Ancient) Texts

Given the LLT’s vast chronological scope, we opted to use modern geographical boundaries rather than the historical boundaries of one particular period to define areas of origin. So, for example, rather than placing Gregory of Tours’ Historiarum libri X in Gaul or in the Merovingian Kingdom, we assigned France as its area of origin.

Staying Consistent

For reasons of consistency, we have assigned texts written by the same author to a single area, at least to the extent that is scientifically defensible. This means that, e.g., Saint Augustine’s works are all assigned to North Africa, even though some are known to have been composed elsewhere. In any case, they are the product of a North African author.

Translations: A Special Case

In the case of (literal or at least faithful) translations, the area of origin remains that of the original text, because this is the origin of the ideas expressed in it and of the topics that can be found in it. This makes sure that, for example, the various translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are all classified under ‘Eastern Mediterranean and Near East’ (a category comprising Greece).

Where Can You Find the Taxonomy?

The new categories are integrated throughout the Library of Latin Texts to help you explore the collection more easily and meaningfully. Here is where you will encounter them.

On the Search Screen

Here, you can use the taxonomy to create a custom corpus, i.e. a tailored selection of texts that match your research interest. For example, you can look for the lemma categoria only in philosophical texts:

Next To the Search Results

Viewing the Distribution By Category

After you have searched for a term or phrase, the left column displays the distribution of the search results across the taxonomy. This allows you to discover that, for example, induperator and its various cases, traditionally called ‘poetic’ forms, do not occur exclusively in verse texts:

If you focus specifically on the occurrences of induperator* in prose texts, you will see that they mostly concern texts classified under ‘Linguistics and literature studies’, i.e. grammatical texts or commentaries on literary works:

Using the Categories As Filters

As pointed out above for the induperator case, you can use the categories to filter your search results in order to limit them to the results relevant to your question. For example, having searched for iusiurandum, you can then limit the results to ‘Acts and official documents’ talking about ‘Law and institutions’. This will only leave official legal documents, such as the Digesta or Codex Iustinianus:

In the List of Works

Here, you can limit the works listed to those corresponding to a specific category. For example, you might only be interested in ‘Narrative texts’ on ‘Biography and hagiography’ from the eleventh to the twelfth centuries:

On Each Work Record

The categories appear alongside each work, offering helpful background information. This is particularly useful in cases where the title does not immediately clarify the contents of the work. For example, the Zebedides of Christan of Lilienfeld is an epic poem on James, the son of Zebedee, but its nature might not be obvious from the title:

This is also where the fact that we can assign multiple topics to a single work comes in. For example, Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum doctrinale, an encyclopaedic work, covers a wide range of topics:

A Work in Progress

At the CTLO, we recognize that categorization is inherently interpretive. Some texts defy easy classification, and some choices may be open to debate. Still, we believe this taxonomy provides a powerful tool for discovery, research, and teaching.

We invite you to explore the updated Library of Latin Texts and see how these new filters can enrich your journey through two millennia of Latin literature. Your feedback is invaluable to us; please share your thoughts via the ‘Feedback’ option in the interface, and help us continuing improving the LLT.

Discover the New LLT Interface – Now the Default Experience!

Today, July 10th, Brepols and the CTLO are proud to announce that the completely revamped interface of the Library of Latin Texts (LLT)—the world’s largest database of Latin literary texts—is now the default setting. 

This launch marks the beginning of a comprehensive overhaul of the BREPOLiS Latin databases, designed to enhance your interaction with Latin literature throughout the ages.

For more details about the new Library of Latin Texts interface, feel free to explore our previous blog posts. We’ve covered its features, benefits, and new data structure:

Enriching the LLT: Lexicological Resources | About Brepolis

Enriching the LLT: Background Information | About Brepolis

Enriching the LLT: Collections | About Brepolis

Enriching the LLT: From Author to Person(s) | About Brepolis

Enriching the LLT: Lexicological Resources

On 4 July, the new version of the Library of Latin Texts received its fourth update. It should be noted that all texts are now included in the new version along with additional and improved metadata.

In the previous blogpost, we explained why we introduced the background information offered on various levels within the new database structure. In this blog post, we will focus on the lexicological resources that make both searching the LLT and investigating individual word-forms easier, more versatile, and more productive.

Latin Lemmas

Available in the Database of Latin Dictionaries since 2023, our database of Latin lemmas is based on (currently) seven dictionaries and includes approximately 100,000 entries. With over 6,000,000 valid morphological analyses, the Latin lemmas constitute one of the largest collections of their type. They are used both in full-text queries and in lexicological pop-ups. 

Use in Full-Text Queries

By typing an ampersand (&) in front of any Latin form in the main search field, that form gets expanded to all lemmas it could potentially be a form of. E.g., if you type &dominus instead of dominus, your query will retrieve dominus, domine, dominum,etc.

Use in the Lexicological Pop-Up

When consulting a text passage in the LLT, you can click on any Latin word in that passage. A pop-up will give you lexicological information, including:

• One or more lemma’s the word in question could be a form of;
• For each lemma:
  • An abbreviated description, based on the article(s) in Lewis & Short (1879) and Gaffiot (1934);
  • Clicking on any of the descriptions mentioned above brings you directly to the Database of Latin Dictionaries (if your institution has access to it);
  • The various possible morphological analyses of the word.

It is important to note that, currently, this tool is limited to the lemmas covered by Lewis & Short (1879) and Gaffiot (1934). Coverage will be expanded over future updates.

The Vocabularies

For each person, text, and collection, the LLT now offers the possibility to consult a full vocabulary list, i.e. a list of all unique word-forms as used in the textual corpus in question. The vocabularies allow researchers to study the lexical choices made within a specific corpus and see the frequency of each specific form within it.

Work-Specific Vocabularies

For each work, you can consult and search through the complete list of unique word-forms that occur within it.

You can sort these forms alphabetically or by frequency.

Clicking on the frequency reveals all occurrences within the work.

Person-Related Vocabularies

The vocabulary offered for each person within the database works in the same way as the work-specific vocabularies, with one difference: each role the person performs (e.g. author, translator, or reviser) is presented separately. You can:

• Select one or more roles;
• Compare their vocabularies side-by-side (e.g. works where Augustine is the genuine author vs works wrongly attributed to him).

The Entire LLT’s Vocabulary

Under the More section of the new LLT, you can find a Statistics page. Currently, this page mainly contains the vocabulary of the entire LLT. Again, this vocabulary functions in the same way as that of a single work, but it offers a unique overview of the complete history of Latin literature.

Future Developments

First, the BREPOLiS Latin Lemmas remain an ever-growing collection and a continuous work in progress. With each future update, more lemmas and (sometimes unexpected) forms will be covered and linked to the DLD.

Secondly, we are determined to further enhance the capabilities of the work-, person-, and database-level vocabularies by adding more statistical analyses. Again, updates will include new functionalities over the coming months and years.

Enriching the LLT: Background Information

On 22 May, the beta version of the Library of Latin Texts received its third update. It now covers Latin literature from the third century BC up to the fourteenth century AD.

In the previous blogpost, we explained why we introduced the concept of “collections” to the structure of the database. In this blog post, we will focus on the background information provided for each person, work, and collection.

While persons and works may be familiar to researchers dedicated to the specific field they belong to, researchers from a different field might not be familiar with them and might need more context. Until now, only works had a few paragraphs providing background information. The new version of the LLT allows us to present information where it is most relevant: on the record of the author, the collection, or the work.

Persons

For persons, the LLT provides:

1. A date statement, based on modern research (i.e. the person’s life dates where possible, otherwise an approximate date);
2. A biographical sketch situates each person within their historical and geographical context. While not fully encyclopaedic, the biography should offer enough detail to understand the essence of the individual’s life and work. In the previous version of the LLT, this information was often included in the background information of a work.
3. A series of external links as starting points for additional research. These links include relevant records in other BREPOLiS databases (e.g. Clavis Clavium or L’Année philologique) and authority files (e.g. Wikidata or the Library of Congress). For persons described in domain-specific research projects, we try to include links to those as well (e.g. the Dictionary of Irish Biography for Irish authors). Please contact the CTLO if you want to link your research project to the LLT as well.

Works

When it comes to works, we provide the following information:

1. The person(s) related to the work (as author, translation, addressee, etc.);
2. The century when the work was composed (where necessary with a dubium or terminus ante/post quem qualification);
3. The edition used as the basis for the text as included in the LLT;
4. Key reference work numbers referring to authoritative sources such as the Clavis Patrum Latinorum or the index of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (cf. the upcoming blog post on reference works);
5. A description of the work, outlining its contents and transmission and providing notes on the specific treatment within the LLT (e.g. corrections or remarks on variants);
6. An approximate classification of the text within an established taxonomy, focussing on its genre, topic, and area of origin (cf. the upcoming blog post on taxonomy).

It should be noted that the description of a work aims to highlight details about its transmission or edition that might otherwise escape the user’s attention. In some cases, we will mention the reasons for selecting a particular edition or we will mention errata in the edition that came up during processing or that were pointed out to us by the editors or by database users.

Collections

As explained in the blog post on “Collections”, we have introduced this new level to encompass works that are expected to be presented together despite differences in authorship or dating (e.g. letter collections or translations with an introduction by their translator).

While collections inevitably do not contain all the detailed information that can be provided for a work, the LLT offers the following information on collection records:

1. The person(s) related to the various works within the collection;
2. Reference work numbers that identify the collection as a whole (e.g. CPL 262 for the correspondence of Saint Augustine);
3. A description of the collection, explaining its contents and the reasons for its treatment as a collection;
4. The taxonomy entries assigned to the various works within the collection.

Future developments

Because of the large number of texts currently in the LLT, providing each entry with an appropriate description is a huge undertaking and, therefore, an ongoing effort. With each coming update, more entries will be contextualized.

Enriching the LLT: Collections

On 29 April, the beta version of the Library of Latin Texts received its second update. It now covers Latin literature from the third century BC up to the eleventh century AD.

In the previous blogpost, we explained why we moved from “authors” to the more flexible concept of “related persons”. In this blog post, we will focus on the organization of related works into collections and how this can be beneficial for our users.

What Is a Collection?

A collection is a group of works that clearly belong together, because:

1. They have a common literary genesis. This is the case, for example, for prologues or epilogues that were composed by other authors alongside the work they introduce or complement;
2. They have historically grown to be considered as a single work. A prime example of this are the Bible books, that can be seen either as individual works or as a whole;
3. They have a strong tradition of being edited as a collection, despite the fact that their authorship or date may vary. This is often the case for collections of letters or sermons.

Collections can have a multi-level hierarchy, that can help make large corpora more manageable for researchers. Moreover, works have a fixed order within a collection, which makes it easier for users to find texts in their expected order.

Why Introduce Collections?

Let us look at an example. Although researchers would expect to find a single entry for Cicero’s Epistulae ad Brutum, this was not the case in the previous version of the LLT. Given that the database only allowed for a single author to be assigned to a work, and that metadata structures were limited, one needed to search for:

1. M. Tullius Cicero – Epistulae ad Marcum Iunium Brutum;
2. M. Iunius Brutus – Epistulae ad Ciceronem seruatae cum Ciceronis Epistulis ad Brutum;
3. M. Iunius Brutus (dubium) – Epistulae ad Ciceronem et Atticum seruatae cum Ciceronis Epistulis ad Brutum.

Thanks to collections, users can now find the Epistulae ad Brutum in their expected form and order. Specific information, such as authorship, related persons, date information or reference work numbers, has been assigned to each particular epistula.

When Do We Not Create a Collection?

Strictly thematic or genre-related grouping of texts is supported by the ‘Studies and Reference Works’ section of the database and is generally not considered to be a reason for creating a collection within the Library of Latin Texts.

When multiple versions of the same text are included in the database, e.g. multiple translations of the same original work or versions transmitted in different manuscripts, they are considered as different works. Again, these will not be grouped as a collection.

Examples

(1) Common Literary Genesis: Eriugena’s Translation of the Ambigua ad Iohannem and Eriugena’s Dedicatory Letter

(2) Works of Different Origins That Have Historically Been Considered as One: The Old Testament

(3) Common Editorial Tradition: (a) The Exchange of Letters Between Ildefonsus and Quiricus

(3) Common Editorial Tradition: (b) Sermo 204D Within the Corpus of Augustine’s Sermones ad populum

A Continuously Evolving Dataset

We have started to implement the concept of collections with the most prominent corpora (e.g. the Sermones ad populum of Saint Augustine or the Registrum Lateranense of Gregory the Great). With each update, we will extend this effort to other dossiers, whether by splitting a collection presented as a single work into its components or by bringing together parts of a collection that were previously spread over the database.