Library Guides: Latin American Studies: All Disciplines: Find Language Dictionaries &amp; Resources

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Below you'll find a selection of the some of the most useful and reliable online dictionaries for the languages of Latin America & the Iberian Peninsula.

Visit the Latin American Library's Reference Collection (4th Floor, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library) for an extensive selection of dictionaries of the languages of Latin America & the Iberian Peninsula in print. See call numbers P29-PM7874. We have monolingual and multilingual dictionaries, dictionaries of national and regional varieties, and more.

NOTE: Google Translate works well, but it does not provide context for words' different meanings. The dictionaries provided below do.

Spanish

Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (DRAE)
Online version of the official dictionary of the Real academia española.
Diccionarios de sinónimos y antínomos (Universidad de Oviedo)
Helpful resource to search synonyms and antonyms. Also includes a verb conjugator.

WordReference
Multilingual dictionary providing English-Spanish/Spanish-English, English-Portuguese/Portuguese-English, and Spanish-Portuguese/Portuguese-Spanish definitions. Also has a monolingual Catalan dictionary. For Spanish, it also allows you to search synonyms and monolingual definitions, as well as conjugate verbs.
Linguee
Extensive multilingual dictionary providing translations to and from English, Spanish, and Portuguese in every combination as well as in combination with many other European languages. Allows you to listen to the pronunciation of the word and provides many contextualized examples.
Collins Dictionary
Allows you to search Spanish-English/ English-Spanish and Portuguese-English/English-Spanish.

Corpus databases allow you to search for a word in a databases containing diverse texts from various time periods. The search results will show instances of usage of that word in any text in which it appears.

A great tool for defining your terminology in its historical context, and therefore a particularly useful tool for anyone working with medieval or colonial texts.

Corpus del español (BYU)
This 100 million word corpus of Spanish texts has been funded by the NEH and has been created by Prof. Mark Davies of Brigham Young University. In addition to being very fast, the search engine allows a wider range of searches than almost any other large corpus in existence.
Corpus Diacrónico del Español (CORDE)
The Diachronic Corpus of Spanish is a data bank that provides a structured set of texts for lexicographic and grammatical research dating from the beginning of the Spanish language until 1974. It includes almost 300 million lexical forms. It is divided into two main groups: fiction and non-fiction texts. Created by Real Academia Española.
Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA)
Guide to Spanish Corpus Linguistics
Extensive research guide created by Jesús Alonso-Regalado, Librarian for Latin American/Hispanic Studies at SUNY-Albany, with more than 20 linguistic corpora from all over the Hispanophone world.

Tesoro de la lengua castellana
Compiled by Sebastián de Covarrubias and published in 1611, this is the first dictionary of Castilian Spanish. Click on the link for a digital facsimile of the 1611 edition. Print copies available at the Latin American Library in reference and the circulating stacks.
Diccionario de autoridades en línea
First dictionary published by the Real Academia Española (1726-1739).
Vocabularios de lenguas del Nuevo Mundo
Selección de vocabularios y diccionarios de varias lenguas indígenas, traducidos al español a finales del siglo XVIII. Son doce documentos únicos que permiten conocer la lexicografía de 35 lenguas indígenas de América y Asia.

Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa
Monolingual dictionary with notes on differences between words' usages in Portugal and Brazil. Lets you search words' definitions as well as all the definitions in which a particular word appears.
Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa
Totalmente revisto, atualizado e ampliado, o novo dicionário, Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, está disponível para consulta apenas em formato digital.
Dicio: Dicionário Online de Português Dicionário Online de Português
Online dictionary for Portuguese in Portuguese. Formed out of a collaboration between faculty and journalists from Universidade do Porto, Portugal, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico do Porto and Universidade do Minho.
Dicionário Porto Editora
Online dictionary offering definitions, verb conjugations, etymologies, acronyms & abbreviations,

Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa
Call Number: Latin American Library (Reference) - PC5327 .D54 2007
ISBN: 9788573023831
Publication Date: 2007
PRINT ONLY. The most complete dictionary taking into account the linguistic variations of Brazil and other Lusophone countries, with excellent etymologies.

WordReference
Multilingual dictionary providing English-Spanish/Spanish-English, English-Portuguese/Portuguese-English, and Spanish-Portuguese/Portuguese-Spanish definitions. Also has a monolingual Catalan dictionary. For Spanish, it also allows you to search synonyms and monolingual definitions, as well as conjugate verbs.
Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa
Translating dictionary to and from English, Spanish, German, Italian & French.
Linguee
Extensive multilingual dictionary providing translations to and from English, Spanish, and Portuguese in every combination as well as in combination with many other European languages. Allows you to listen to the pronunciation of the word and provides many contextualized examples.
Collins Dictionary
Allows you to search Spanish-English/ English-Spanish and Portuguese-English/English-Spanish.

Indigenous Languages of Latin America

The Latin American Library holds a unique collection of dictionaries of the many indigenous languages of Latin America in print. Your best bet for quality academic dictionaries is to search the library catalog.

Library search tip:

In the first search line of an Advanced Search, select "subject" from the drop-down bar, then enter "dictionaries" (plural)
In the second line, select "subject" again from the drop-down bar and then enter the language that interests you:

If you're looking for a translation in a pinch, use the tabs in this section. They include online multilingual dictionaries for some of the more widely spoken indigenous languages of Latin America. This section will be continually updated to include more resources.

There are a limited number of authoritative online dictionaries for the indigenous languages of Latin America. Feel free to email Rachel Stein with suggestions for additions.

Traductor de Palabras Guaraní-Español del Gobierno de Paraguay

Ediciones Sup-Infor
This publisher provides freely-available downloadable publications on or in various Amerindian languages: paleographies, translations, texts, sources, studies, dictionaries, and programs for linguistic research.
Maya Hieroglyphic Codices Database
This site features a searchable translation and analysis of the four extant codices (screenfold books) painted by Maya scribes before the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. These codices contain information about Maya beliefs and rituals, as well as everyday activities, all framed within an astronomical and calendrical context. Included are pages with an extensive bibliography and introductory short essays that provide general context and background on Maya codices research.