Latin dictionary of quasi synonyms?

[interprete]

Hello,

As I toil away on my Latin textbook and am invited to do more and more French-to-Latin translation drills, I have more and more misgivings about the numerous synonyms in my vocab sheets.
For example "The emperor will entrust this province to a representative." For "entrust" I already know trado and permitto. How do I know which one fits better here?

"That year the most pleasant consul was Marcus because he always behaved very wisely". For "pleasant" I know gratus and jucundus.

Those are just the latest two examples, but I can aso think of rapio / aufero / tollo which are all given in my textbook as meaning "enlever" (remove, take away) (as one meaning they have in common, each of them having several other diverging meanings of course), and the like.

In France we have dictionaries of synonyms which list quasi-synonyms and explain the subtle differences between each of them, to help chose the most appropriate one in a given context. Do we have the same thing in Latin?

Thanks!

 

[interprete]

As I did today's translation drill, I came across another one: "help".
For "help", I have auxilium, opera, and (ops) opis. No idea whether each of them should be limited to a specific context or if they are all interchangeable at all times.

 

[kizolk]

Hi! I use the dictionary of synonyms available on Latinitium, Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes; here's its entry on auxilium; opem ferre; opitulari; iuvare; adiuvare; auxiliari.

Sometimes I prefer the indirect approach of looking up these words individually in a good dictionary with examples. For that too I tend to use Latinitium because it's pretty convenient (you can search multiples dictionaries at once).

Lastly, to get a more direct feel for how a given word/expression might be used, a word search on PHI can be very helpful.

 

[interprete]

Hi! I use the dictionary of synonyms available on Latinitium, Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes; here's its entry on auxilium; opem ferre; opitulari; iuvare; adiuvare; auxiliari.

Sometimes I prefer the indirect approach of looking up these words individually in a good dictionary with examples. For that too I tend to use Latinitium because it's pretty convenient (you can search multiples dictionaries at once).

Lastly, to get a more direct feel for how a given word/expression might be used, a word search on PHI can be very helpful.

Great sources, especially Döderlein which is exactly what I was having in mind. Thanks a lot!

 

[cinefactus]

In addition, if you look in Google books there is
Dictionary of Latin Synonymes by Lewis Ramshorn
Ausonii Popmae Frisii
Gymnasium sive Symbola Critica has good explanations but they are not well organised.

 

[interprete]

Thanks to @kizolk I ended up finding this page that discusses this very subject. It lists all major works on Latin synonyms and has a link to download them all. I wish I knew German.