Antonio de Nebrija was the most important grammarian and lexicographer of the Spanish Middle Ages. His chief works were published and republished many times during and after his life, making his bibliography highly complex. Although he published learned translations and wrote commentaries, Latin poetry, and histories, his fame rests upon his works on grammar and lexicography.

Antonio de Cala y Xarana was born in Nebrixa (modern Lebrija), in the province of Seville, to Juan Martínez de Cala y Hinojosa and Catalina de Xarana y Ojo, but he changed his name to reflect that of his place of origin, a practice fashionable among European humanists of his age. For this reason he is known as Elio Antonio de Nebrija.

There is some uncertainty about Nebrija's date of birth. In the prologue to the Vocabulario español-latino (Spanish-Latin Vocabulary, circa 1493-1495) he states that he wrote that...