![Ringelbergius, 'Lucubrationes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Ringelbergius%2C_%27Lucubrationes...KYKLOPEDEIA...%27_ed._Basel_1541_original.JPG)
An encyclopedia (
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
) or encyclopædia (
British English) is a
reference work or
compendium providing summaries of
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
either general or special to a particular field or discipline.
Encyclopedias are divided into
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
or entries that are arranged
alphabetically by article name
or by thematic categories, or else are
hyperlinked
''Hyperlinked'' is an American semi-autobiography streaming television series produced exclusively for YouTube Premium, featuring the now-disbanded music group L2M. The series was created by Juliette Brindak Blake, Hermine Brindak and Larry Re ...
and searchable.
Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most
dictionaries
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, p ...
.
Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on ''
fact
A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...
ual information'' concerning the subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on
linguistic information about
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
s, such as their
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
, meaning,
pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct pronunciation") or simply the way a particular ...
, use, and
grammatical
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular variety (linguistics), speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the go ...
forms.
[Béjoint, Henri (2000)]
''Modern Lexicography''
, pp. 30–31. Oxford University Press.
Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years and have evolved considerably during that time as regards language (written in a major international or a vernacular language), size (few or many volumes), intent (presentation of a global or a limited range of knowledge), cultural perspective (authoritative, ideological, didactic, utilitarian), authorship (qualifications, style), readership (education level, background, interests, capabilities), and the technologies available for their production and distribution (hand-written manuscripts, small or large print runs, Internet). As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found a prominent place in libraries, schools and other educational institutions.
The appearance of
digital and open-source versions in the 21st century, such as
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
, has vastly expanded the accessibility, authorship, readership, and variety of encyclopedia entries.
Etymology
The word ''
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
'' (''encyclo'', ''pedia'') comes from the
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
,
transliterated , meaning 'general education' from (), meaning 'circular, recurrent, required regularly, general' and (), meaning 'education, rearing of a child'; together, the phrase literally translates as 'complete instruction' or 'complete knowledge'. However, the two separate words were reduced to a single word due to a scribal error by copyists of a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
manuscript edition of
Quintillian in 1470. The copyists took this phrase to be a single Greek word, ''enkyklopaedia'', with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the
New Latin word ''encyclopaedia'', which in turn came into English. Because of this compounded word, fifteenth-century readers and since have often, and incorrectly, thought that the Roman authors
Quintillian and
Pliny described an ancient genre.
Characteristics
The modern encyclopedia was developed from the
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
in the 18th century. Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content
expert
An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...
s, but they are significantly different in structure. A dictionary is a linguistic work which primarily focuses on alphabetical listing of
words and their
definitions.
Synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
ous words and those related by the subject matter are to be found scattered around the dictionary, giving no obvious place for in-depth treatment. Thus, a dictionary typically provides limited
information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
,
analysis or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave the reader lacking in
understanding
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object.
Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object o ...
the meaning, significance or limitations of a
term, and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge.
To address those needs, an encyclopedia article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an individual word, but provides a more extensive meaning for a ''subject or
discipline
Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
''. In addition to defining and listing synonymous terms for the topic, the article is able to treat the topic's more extensive meaning in more depth and convey the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject. An encyclopedia article also often includes many
maps and
illustration
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...
s, as well as
bibliography
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
and
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...
. An encyclopedia is, theoretically, not written in order to convince, although one of its goals is indeed to convince its reader of its own veracity.
Four major elements
There are four major elements that define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production:
# Encyclopedias can be general, containing articles on topics in every field (the English-language ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'' and German ''
Brockhaus'' are well-known examples).
General encyclopedias may contain guides on how to do a variety of things, as well as embedded dictionaries and
gazetteers. There are also encyclopedias that cover a wide variety of topics from a particular cultural, ethnic, or national perspective, such as the ''
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
'' or ''
Encyclopaedia Judaica''.
# Works of encyclopedic scope aim to convey the important accumulated knowledge for their subject domain, such as an encyclopedia of
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
,
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
or
law. Works vary in the breadth of material and the depth of discussion, depending on the
target audience.
# Some systematic method of organization is essential to making an encyclopedia usable for reference. There have historically been two main methods of organizing printed encyclopedias: the
alphabetical method (consisting of a number of separate articles, organized in alphabetical order) and organization by
hierarchical
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
categories.
The former method is today the more common, especially for general works. The fluidity of
electronic media, however, allows new possibilities for multiple methods of organization of the same content. Further, electronic media offer new capabilities for search,
indexing and
cross reference. The
epigraph from
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
on the title page of the 18th century ''Encyclopédie'' suggests the importance of the structure of an encyclopedia: "What grace may be added to commonplace matters by the power of order and connection."
# As modern multimedia and the information age have evolved, new methods have emerged for the collection, verification, summation, and presentation of information of all kinds. Projects such as
Everything2
Everything2 (styled Everything2 or E2 for short) is a collaborative Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material. E2 is moderated for quality, but has no formal policy on subject matter. Writing on ...
,
Encarta,
h2g2, and
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
are examples of new forms of the encyclopedia as
information retrieval
Information retrieval (IR) in computing and information science is the process of obtaining information system resources that are relevant to an information need from a collection of those resources. Searches can be based on full-text or other co ...
becomes simpler. The method of production for an encyclopedia historically has been supported in both for-profit and non-profit contexts. The ''
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
'' mentioned above was entirely state sponsored, while the ''Britannica'' was supported as a for-profit institution. By comparison, Wikipedia is supported by volunteers contributing in a non-profit environment under the organization of the
Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...
.
Encyclopedic dictionaries
Some works entitled "dictionaries" are actually similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the ''
Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', the ''
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'', and ''
Black's Law Dictionary
''Black's Law Dictionary'' is the most frequently used legal dictionary in the United States. Henry Campbell Black (1860–1927) was the author of the first two editions of the dictionary.
History
The first edition was published in 1891 by West P ...
''). The ''
Macquarie Dictionary
The ''Macquarie Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of Australian English. It is generally considered by universities and the legal profession to be the authoritative source on Australian English. It also pays considerable attention to New Zealand En ...
,'' Australia's national dictionary, became an
encyclopedic dictionary
An encyclopedic dictionary typically includes many short listings, arranged alphabetically, and discussing a wide range of topics. Encyclopedic dictionaries can be general, containing articles on topics in many different fields; or they can sp ...
after its first edition in recognition of the use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns.
Differences between encyclopedias and dictionaries
There are some broad differences between encyclopedias and dictionaries. Most noticeably, encyclopedia articles are longer, fuller and more thorough than entries in most general-purpose dictionaries.
There are differences in content as well. Generally speaking, dictionaries provide
linguistic information about words themselves, while encyclopedias focus more on the thing for which those words stand.
Thus, while dictionary entries are inextricably fixed to the word described, encyclopedia articles can be given a different entry name. As such, dictionary entries are not fully translatable into other languages, but encyclopedia articles can be.
In practice, however, the distinction is not concrete, as there is no clear-cut difference between factual, "encyclopedic" information and linguistic information such as appears in dictionaries.
Thus encyclopedias may contain material that is also found in dictionaries, and vice versa.
In particular, dictionary entries often contain factual information about the thing named by the word.
History
Encyclopedias have progressed from the beginning of history in written form, through medieval and modern times in print, and most recently, displayed on computer and distributed via computer networks, including the Internet.
Written encyclopedias
The earliest encyclopedic work to have survived to modern times is the ''
Naturalis Historia'' of
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
, a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
statesman living in the 1st century AD.
He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering
natural history, architecture, medicine,
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
, geology, and all aspects of the world around him.
This work became very popular in
Antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
, was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1470, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
world, and especially
Roman art,
Roman technology
Roman technology is the collection of antiques, skills, methods, processes, and engineering practices which supported Roman civilization and made possible the expansion of the economy and military of ancient Rome (753 BC – 476 AD).
The Roma ...
and
Roman engineering
The ancient Romans were famous for their advanced engineering accomplishments. Technology for bringing running water into cities was developed in the east, but transformed by the Romans into a technology inconceivable in Greece. The architecture ...
.
![Isidore de Séville](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Isidore_de_S%C3%A9ville.jpg)
The Spanish scholar
Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
was the first Christian writer to try to compile a ''
summa
Summa and its diminutive summula (plural ''summae'' and ''summulae'', respectively) was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they might ...
'' of universal knowledge, the ''
Etymologiae'' (c. 600–625), also known by classicists as the ''Origines'' (abbreviated ''Orig''.). This encyclopedia—the first such Christian
epitome
An epitome (; gr, ἐπιτομή, from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "t ...
—formed a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes
[MacFarlane 1980:4; MacFarlane translates ''Etymologiae'' viii.] based on hundreds of classical sources, including ''Natural Historia''. Of Etymologiae in its time it was said ''quaecunque fere sciri debentur'', "practically everything that it is necessary to know".
Among the areas covered were:
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
,
astronomy,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
,
law, the
Catholic Church and
heretical sects,
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
philosopher
A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
s,
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
s,
cities,
animals and
birds, the
physical world,
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
,
public buildings
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...
,
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
s,
metals
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
s,
agriculture,
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
s,
clothes
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...
,
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
, and
tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
s.
Another Christian encyclopedia was the ''Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum'' of
Cassiodorus (543-560) dedicated to the Christian Divinity and to the seven liberal arts.
The encyclopedia of
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
, a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, had 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
compilers. The text was arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and place in the Greek alphabet.
![Image of Yongle Encyclopedia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Image_of_Yongle_Encyclopedia.jpg)
From India, the
Siribhoovalaya (Kannada: ಸಿರಿಭೂವಲಯ), dated between 800 A.D. to 15th century, is a work of
kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
literature written by
Kumudendu Muni, a Jain monk. It is unique because rather than employing alphabets, it is composed entirely in
Kannada numerals
The Kannada script ( IAST: ''Kannaḍa lipi''; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state of Karnataka ...
. Many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work.
The enormous encyclopedic work in China of the ''
Four Great Books of Song
The ''Four Great Books of Song'' () was compiled by a team of scholars during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The term was coined after the last book (''Cefu Yuangui'') was finished during the 11th century. The four encyclopedias were published and ...
'', compiled by the 11th century during the early
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
(960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the ''
Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau
''Cefu Yuangui'' (冊府元龜) is the largest ''leishu'' (encyclopedia) compiled during the Chinese Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279). It was the last of the '' Four Great Books of Song'', the previous three having been published in the 10th cen ...
'', amounted to 9.4 million
Chinese characters in 1,000 written volumes.
There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman
Shen Kuo
Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman of the Song dynasty (960–1279). Shen wa ...
(1031–1095) with his ''
Dream Pool Essays
''The Dream Pool Essays'' (or ''Dream Torrent Essays'') was an extensive book written by the Chinese polymath and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095), published in 1088 during the Song dynasty (960–1279) of China. Shen compiled this encycloped ...
'' of 1088, the statesman, inventor, and agronomist
Wang Zhen (active 1290–1333) with his ''Nong Shu'' of 1313, and the written ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' of
Song Yingxing (1587–1666), the latter of whom was termed the "
Diderot of China" by British historian
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, in ...
.
[Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 102.]
Printed encyclopedias
Before the advent of the printing press, encyclopedic works were all hand copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it.
During the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, the creation of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
allowed a wider diffusion of encyclopedias and every scholar could have his or her own copy. The ''
De expetendis et fugiendis rebus'' by
Giorgio Valla was posthumously printed in 1501 by
Aldo Manuzio
Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...
in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. This work followed the traditional scheme of liberal arts. However, Valla added the translation of ancient Greek works on mathematics (firstly by
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...
), newly discovered and translated. The ''Margarita Philosophica'' by
Gregor Reisch
Gregor Reisch (c. 1467 - 9 May 1525) was a German Carthusian monk and humanist scholar. He is best known for his compilation ''Margarita Philosophica'', one of the earliest printed encyclopedias of general knowledge.
Life
Reisch was born at Balin ...
, printed in 1503, was a complete encyclopedia explaining the
seven liberal arts.
Financial, commercial, legal, and intellectual factors changed the size of encyclopedias. Middle classes had more time to read and encyclopedias helped them to learn more. Publishers wanted to increase their output so some countries like Germany started selling books missing alphabetical sections, to publish faster. Also, publishers could not afford all the resources by themselves, so multiple publishers would come together with their resources to create better encyclopedias. Later, rivalry grew, causing copyright to occur due to weak underdeveloped laws.
John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English ''Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only the Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves'' – to give its full title. Organized alphabetically, its content does indeed contain explanation not merely of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but of the arts and sciences themselves.
Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710.
Encyclopédie
Encyclopædia Britannica
The ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'', had a modest beginning in Scotland: the first edition, issued between 1768 and 1771, had just three hastily completed volumes – A–B, C–L, and M–Z – with a total of 2,391 pages. By 1797, when the third edition was completed, it had been expanded to 18 volumes addressing a full range of topics, with articles contributed by a range of authorities on their subjects.
The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' appeared in various editions throughout the nineteenth century, and the growth of
popular education and the
Mechanics' Institutes, spearheaded by the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham, with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching or who pr ...
led to the production of the ''
Penny Cyclopaedia'', as its title suggests issued in weekly numbers at a penny each like a newspaper.
In the early 20th century, the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' reached its eleventh edition, and inexpensive encyclopedias such as ''
Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia
''Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia'' is an encyclopedia edited by John Hammerton and published in London, England by The Education Book Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Northcliffe's Amalgamated Press, in 1921/22.
Aimed at a middle-income market ...
'' and ''
Everyman's Encyclopaedia'' were common.
Brockhaus
The German-language ''
Conversations-Lexikon'' was published at
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
from 1796 to 1808, in 6 volumes. Paralleling other 18th century encyclopedias, its scope was expanded beyond that of earlier publications, in an effort at comprehensiveness. It was, however, intended not for scholarly use but to provide results of research and discovery in a simple and popular form without extensive detail. This format, a contrast to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', was widely imitated by later 19th century encyclopedias in Britain, the United States, France, Spain, Italy and other countries. Of the influential late-18th century and early-19th century encyclopedias, the ''Conversations-Lexikon'' is perhaps most similar in form to today's encyclopedias.
E.s in the US
In the United States, the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of several large popular encyclopedias, often sold on installment plans. The best known of these were ''
World Book
The ''World Book Encyclopedia'' is an American encyclopedia. The encyclopedia is designed to cover major areas of knowledge uniformly, but it shows particular strength in scientific, technical, historical and medical subjects. ''World Book'' wa ...
'' and ''
Funk and Wagnalls''. As many as 90% were sold
door to door
Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a pro ...
.
Jack Lynch says in his book ''You Could Look It Up'' that encyclopedia salespeople were so common that they became the butt of jokes. He describes their sales pitch saying, "They were selling not books but a lifestyle, a future, a promise of social mobility." A 1961 ''World Book'' ad said, "You are holding your family's future in your hands right now," while showing a feminine hand holding an order form.
Digital encyclopedias
By the late 20th century, encyclopedias were being published on
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
s for use with personal computers.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
's ''
Encarta'', launched in 1993, was a landmark example as it had no printed equivalent. Articles were supplemented with video and audio files as well as numerous high-quality images. After sixteen years, Microsoft discontinued the Encarta line of products in 2009.
Digital encyclopedias enable "Encyclopedia Services" (e.g.
Wikimedia Enterprise
Wikimedia Enterprise is a commercial product by the Wikimedia Foundation to provide, in a more easily consumable way, the data of the Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia. It allows customers to retrieve data at large scale and high availability ...
) to facilitate programatic access to the content.
Free encyclopedias
The concept of a free encyclopedia began with the
Interpedia proposal on
Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based
online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content and that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included
Everything2
Everything2 (styled Everything2 or E2 for short) is a collaborative Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material. E2 is moderated for quality, but has no formal policy on subject matter. Writing on ...
and
Open Site
Open-Site, the Open Encyclopedia Project was a free internet encyclopedia operated by Michael J. Flickinger in an effort to build a free categorized community-built encyclopedia, inspired by DMOZ. The Open Site software was open-source software ...
. In 1999,
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
proposed the
GNUPedia
GNE (originally GNUPedia) was a project to create a free content online encyclopedia, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, under the auspices of the Free Software Foundation. The project was proposed by Richard Stallman in Decembe ...
, an online encyclopedia which, similar to the
GNU operating system, would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's
GNU philosophy.
It was not until
Nupedia and later
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
that a stable free encyclopedia project was able to be established on the Internet.
The
English Wikipedia, which was started in 2001, became the world's largest encyclopedia in 2004 at the 300,000 article stage. By late 2005, Wikipedia had produced over two million articles in more than 80 languages with content licensed under the
copyleft GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...
. As of August 2009, Wikipedia had over 3 million articles in English and well over 10 million combined in over 250 languages. Wikipedia currently has
articles in English.
Since 2003, other free encyclopedias like the Chinese-language
Baidu Baike and
Hudong, as well as English language encyclopedias such as
Citizendium and
Knol
Knol was a Google project that aimed to include user-written articles on a range of topics. The lower-case term ''knol'', which Google defined as a "unit of knowledge", referred to an article in the project. Knol was often viewed as a rival to W ...
have appeared, the latter of which has been discontinued.
Online encyclopedias
In January 1995,
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...
started to publish the
ASCII text of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'', 11th edition (1911), but disagreement about the method halted the work after the first volume.
For trademark reasons this has been published as the ''
Gutenberg Encyclopedia
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs w ...
''.
Project Gutenberg later restarted work on digitising and proofreading this encyclopedia. Project Gutenberg has published volumes in alphabetic order the most recent publication is ''Volume 17 Slice 8: Matter–Mecklenburg'' published on 7 April 2013. The latest ''Britannica'' was digitized by its publishers, and sold first as a CD-ROM, and later as an online service.
In 2001, ASCII text of all 28 volumes was published on
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition by source; a copyright claim was added to the materials included. The website no longer exists, but the contents are available from the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
.
Other digitization projects have made progress in other titles. One example is ''
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)'' digitized by the
Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
A successful digitization of an encyclopedia was the
Bartleby Project's online adaptation of the ''
Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, in early 2000 and is updated periodically.
Other websites provide online encyclopedias, some of which are also available on Wikisource, but which may be more complete than those on Wikisource, or maybe different editions (see
List of online encyclopedias
This is a list of well-known online encyclopedias—i.e., encyclopedias accessible or formerly accessible on the Internet.
The largest online encyclopedias are general reference works, though there are also many specialized ones. Some online ency ...
).
Another related branch of activity is the creation of new, free content on a volunteer basis. In 1991, the participants of the
Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
newsgroup
started a project to produce a real version of ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a fictional encyclopedia used in the works of
Douglas Adams. It became known as Project Galactic Guide. Although it originally aimed to contain only real, factual articles, the policy was changed to allow and encourage semi-real and unreal articles as well. Project Galactic Guide contains over 1700 articles, but no new articles have been added since 2000; this is probably partly due to the founding of
h2g2, a more official project along similar lines.
The 1993
Interpedia proposal was planned as an encyclopedia on the Internet to which everyone could contribute materials. The project never left the planning stage and was overtaken by a key branch of old printed encyclopedias.
Another early online encyclopedia was called the ''Global Encyclopedia''. In November 1995 a review of it was presented by James Rettig (Assistant Dean of University Libraries for Reference and Information Services)
College of William & Mary at the 15th Annual Charleston Conference on library acquisitions and related issues. He said of the ''Global Encyclopedia'':
He then gives several examples of article entries such as
Iowa City
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
:
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
is a
free content, multilingual online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteer contributors through a model of
open collaboration
Open collaboration is any "system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which is made available to contributors and noncontribu ...
. It is the largest and most-read
reference work in history.
Wikipedia originally developed from another encyclopedia project called
Nupedia.
CD-ROM encyclopedias
A CD-ROM encyclopedia is an encyclopedia delivered as
reference software on a
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
disc for use on a
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
. This was the usual way computer users accessed encyclopedic knowledge from the 1980s and 1990s. Later
DVD discs replaced CD-ROMs and from mid-2000s
internet encyclopedias
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
became dominant and replaced disc-based software encyclopedias. Some examples of CD-ROM encyclopedia are ''
Encarta'',
Grolier
Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acade ...
Multimedia Encyclopedia, and ''Britannica''.
CD-ROM encyclopedias were usually a
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
or
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
(3.0, 3.1 or 95/98) application on a CD-ROM disc. The user would execute the encyclopedia's software program to see a menu that allowed them to start browsing the encyclopedia's articles, and most encyclopedias also supported a way to search the contents of the encyclopedia. The article text was usually
hyperlinked
''Hyperlinked'' is an American semi-autobiography streaming television series produced exclusively for YouTube Premium, featuring the now-disbanded music group L2M. The series was created by Juliette Brindak Blake, Hermine Brindak and Larry Re ...
and also included
photographs,
audio
Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to:
Sound
*Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound
*Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum
*Digital audio, representation of sound ...
clips (for example in articles about historical speeches or musical instruments), and
video clips
Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...
. In the CD-ROM age the video clips had usually a low resolution, often 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Such encyclopedias which made use of photos, audio and video were also called
multimedia encyclopedias. However, because of the
online encyclopedia, CD-ROM encyclopedias have been declared obsolete.
See also
*
Bibliography of encyclopedias
*
Biographical dictionary
*
Encyclopedic knowledge
To have encyclopedic knowledge is to have "vast and complete" knowledge about a large number of diverse subjects. A person having such knowledge is called a human encyclopedia or a walking encyclopedia.
The concept of encyclopedic knowledge was ...
*
Encyclopedism
*
Fictitious entry
Fictitious or fake entries are deliberately incorrect entries in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), maps, and directories. There are more specific terms for particular kinds of fictitious entry, such as Moun ...
*
History of science and technology
The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history that examines the understanding of the natural world (science) and the ability to manipulate it (technology) at different points in time. This academic discipline also studies the c ...
*
Lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
*
Library science
Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...
*
Lists of encyclopedias
*
Thesaurus
*
Speculum literature
Notes
References
*
*
*
* C. Codoner, S. Louis, M. Paulmier-Foucart, D. Hüe, M. Salvat, A. Llinares, ''L'Encyclopédisme. Actes du Colloque de Caen'', A. Becq (dir.), Paris, 1991.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Encyclopaedia and Hypertext
– Biographical errors in encyclopedias and almanacs
Encyclopedia– Diderot's article on the Encyclopedia from the original
Encyclopédie.
De expetendis et fugiendis rebus– First Renaissance encyclopedia
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131109213126/http://reviews.cnet.com/1990-3118_7-6378998-1.html Digital encyclopedias put the world at your fingertipsCNET
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
article
Encyclopedias onlineUniversity of Wisconsin Stout listing by category
Chambers' ''Cyclopaedia'' 1728, with the 1753 supplement
''Encyclopædia Americana'' 1851,
Francis Lieber
Francis Lieber (March 18, 1798 or 1800 – October 2, 1872), known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an ''Encyclopaedia Americana''. He was the author of the Lieber Code during ...
ed. (Boston: Mussey & Co.) at the University of Michigan Making of America site
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' articles and illustrations from 9th ed., 1875–89, and 10th ed., 1902–03.
*
{{Authority control
Works about history