ABSTRACT
One could be forgiven for supposing that a chapter on mythological and classical references is redundant given that such a subject is the common heritage of both the Anglo-Americans and the French. There are, however, valid reasons for including this chapter. First, several French terms coming from the Classics do not exist as such in English translation, and there is a big difference between passive recognition of a word and active knowledge of its use. With the decline in the teaching of the Classics, this chapter should prove to be at least a useful refresher. Hands up, those who can remember the names of the various parts of the underworld! Given that part of the potential readership of this dictionary may well not be English or American, we have been careful, throughout the book, not make too many ethnocentric assumptions about the knowledge of our readers.
