The Thesaurus proverbiorum medii aevi (TPMA) is the first comprehensive collection of medieval Latin Romance and Germanic sayings and proverbs with their Latin and Greek sources. The proverbs are presented in the original text with a German translation in articles of which the titles are identical with the main term expressed in the proverbs. A sophisticated system of cross-references leads the user to parallel material. This dictionary of sayings and proverbs is of interest for comparative literature and linguistics as well as for ethnology and cultural history.

The work is indispensable for deciphering no longer known proverbs in collective manuscripts and in texts far beyond the Middle Ages. Prof. Dr. Johannes Janota