The Welded , also known under the title Suda or Suidas , (in Greek old Σοῦδα / Soũda or Σουίδας / Souídas ) is an encyclopedic lexicon composed by a group of Byzantine scholars , at the end of the 10th century or at the beginning of the 11th century. It was believed a long time that it was the work of a single author called Souidas because of a note of erroneous foreword, conjectures érudite Eustathe de Thessalonique.

The name étymologiquement derives from the Latin , and means “hedge” or “ditch”. The approximate date of composition of the work can result only from its contents: under the article “Adam”, the author of the lexicon gives a short chronology of the world history which is completed with the death of the emperor Jean I {{er}} Tzimiskès (976), while in the article “Constantinople” are mentioned its successors Basile II and Constantin VIII: the question is to know is it is not a question of a interpolation later than the original text.

The work comprises a little more than 30.000 notes, classified according to the anti-stichique system, at the same time alphabetical and phonetic: the Diphtongue S are classified after the simple vowels (thus αι after ε, ω after ο). It is a compilation of compilations, which uses biographies, bibliographies and other information on pagan and Christian writers, from which the majority are disappeared nowadays: the Scholie S on Aristophane, Sophocle and Thucydide were useful much. The biographical notes often come, of the consent of the author, the Onomatologion or of the Pinax of Hésychios de Milet (9th century) Among the other sources abundantly used appear the Excerpta of Constantin Porphyrogénète, the Chronique of Georges the Monk, the biographies of Diogène Laërce, work of Athénée and Philostrate.

The Souda is partly a dictionary which clarifies the complex grammatical forms, gives the definitions of the rare words, and partly an encyclopedia commenting on of the people, the places or the institutions. But in virtue even of the sources which it uses, often biblical or ancient, it provides only little information over the Byzantine time.

It was a very popular work, and for this reason of many manuscripts or extracted were preserved by it. Later authors like Eustathe de Thessalonique, Zonaras, Constantin Lascaris or Maxime the Greek largely made use of it.

External bond

Welded was the subject of a critical edition of the Danish scientist Ada Adler (Leipzig, 1928-1938), whose online version is available:

• the '' Souda '' on line.