Problem with Microsoft Word

Question

When I try to type in Latin names for plants, they are always flagged up as misspelt. I seem to need the Latin dictionary for Word, is it available?

Answer 1

Hi

Latin is available.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/check-spelling-and-grammar-in-a-different-language-667ba67a-a202-42fd-8596-edc1fa320e00

However, I would suggest creating a character style. It could have Latin as the language and perhaps be in Italics.  you could attach it to a keyboard shortcut. Use that shortcut to trigger it as you type and perhaps Ctrl-Spacebar to switch back.  Perhaps even better would be to skip the language pack and simply use the "no proofing" characteristic. That would work as well unless you want Word checking your Latin spelling. (I do not know that it does grammar.) Most botanical names are not words in classical Latin but rather modern inventions.  

This forum is a user-to-user support forum. I am a fellow user.

I hope this information helps.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or require further help.

You can ask for more help by replying to this post (Reply button below).

Regards

Answer 2

I'm sorry to throw a pedant's cold water on the idea of using an existing Latin dictionary, but standard dictionaries contain words found in literary or conversational settings. They're quite unlikely to contain the specialized terms used in biological taxonomy.

As an example, the honey myrtles are members of the genus Melaleuca. According to Wikipedia, 

The name Melaleuca is derived from the Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas) meaning “dark" or "black” and λευκός (leukós) meaning “white”,^^apparently because one of the first specimens described had fire-blackened white bark.

One species of that genus is Melaleuca wilsonii, named for Charles Wilson, a friend of the botanist who first formally described it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaleuca_wilsonii). Neither of the parts is likely to appear in any general-purpose dictionary.

What you require is a dictionary specialized for botany. Many of them are listed at https://www.lexicool.com/online-dictionary.asp?FSP=C05&FKW=botany.

Answer 3

As Dave says, there is no Latin dictionary for Word. Although adding the words to the user dictionary (CUSTOM.DIC) as they appear is one approach, another is to create a "no proofing" character style that will exempt them from spell checking. Instructions for doing this can be found here. 

A similar approach that would be ideal for your situation would be to create a "Latin" character style. Although there are no proofing tools for Latin, "Latin" is one of the languages you can apply to text. You could create a character style whose base language is Latin, with "Do not check spelling or grammar" as one of its properties, as well as italics since you are likely italicizing these plant names. This would allow you to apply the "no proofing" style in a single step, as easily as applying italics, especially if you create a keyboard shortcut for the style.

Answer 4

It seems Dave was right; I had not tried to add Latin. I use the "no proofing" setting instead of adding a language. It is also useful, in legal writing, for citations to cases which have names of people.

Answer 5

Hi Donald

I am sorry, there is no Latin dictionary for Word, and most likely that would not suit your needs, if the rest of your text is in English or another language.

Your best option is to right click and choose Add to Dictionary, so after some time, they will not be flagged . . .