Indiana State's library adds 520-year-old dictionary

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - The newest addition to Indiana State University's library is a 520-year-old dictionary that includes some unexpected surprises in its pages.

The book, called "Vocabularius," was published in 1495 and is one of the first known examples of a German-to-Latin dictionary.

Each page of the 382-page book recently added to ISU's Cordell Collection was hand-numbered in ink, presumably by its owner.

Cordell Collection curator emeritus David Vancil says the tome includes a definition for pancakes fried in blood that provides some social context for the German people of the 15th century. Vancil says, "This tidbit opens a small window on a food eaten by Germans at the time."

Library special collections chair says the newly acquired dictionary is the only copy of the book in the nation.