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A dictionary is a listing of
lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...
s from the
lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...
of one or more specific
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, often arranged
alphabetically Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is t ...
(or by radical and stroke for
ideographic An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiari ...
languages), which may include information on
definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...
s, usage, etymologies,
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 ...
s, translation, etc.Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, 2002 It is a
lexicographical 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. * Theoreti ...
reference that shows inter-relationships among the data. A broad distinction is made between general and
specialized dictionaries A specialized dictionary is a dictionary that covers a relatively restricted set of phenomena. The definitive book on the subject (Cowie 2009) includes chapters on some of the dictionaries included below: *synonyms *pronunciations *names (place na ...
. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and
terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, compound word, or multi-wor ...
are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed to be
semasiological Semasiology (from el, σημασία, ', "signification") is a discipline of linguistics concerned with the question "what does the word ''X'' mean?". It studies the meaning of words regardless how they are pronounced. It is the opposite of on ...
, mapping word to
definition A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitio ...
, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying
concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...
s and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types.A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Sterkenburg 2003, pp. 155–157 There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of
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 ...
s (
thesauri A thesaurus (plural ''thesauri'' or ''thesauruses'') or synonym dictionary is a reference work for finding synonyms and sometimes antonyms of words. They are often used by writers to help find the best word to express an idea: Synonym dictionar ...
), and
rhyming A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose
monolingual dictionary An explanatory dictionary or defining dictionary is a dictionary that provides definitions of word meanings at its entries. It may give additional information on pronunciation, grammar, etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of Engl ...
.A Practical Guide to Lexicography, Sterkenburg 2003, pp. 3–4 There is also a contrast between ''prescriptive'' or ''descriptive'' dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive. The first recorded dictionaries date back to
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are
Chinese dictionaries Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Han dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for the Chinese language, and this article discusses some of ...
3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was '' A Table Alphabeticall'', written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called
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 ...
, and largely initiated by
Ladislav Zgusta Ladislav Zgusta (20 March 1924 in Libochovice – 27 April 2007 in Urbana, Illinois) was a Czech-American historical linguist and lexicographer, who wrote one of the first textbooks on lexicography. He was a professor of linguistics and classics at ...
. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.


History

The oldest known dictionaries were
cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
tablets with bilingual Sumerian
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
wordlists, discovered in
Ebla Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...
(modern
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
) and dated to roughly 2300 BCE, the time of the
Akkadian Empire The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad (city), Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and ...
. The early 2nd millennium BCE ''
Urra=hubullu The ''Urra=hubullu'' ( ) is a major Babylonian glossary or " encyclopedia". It consists of Sumerian and Akkadian lexical lists ordered by topic. The canonical version extends to 24 tablets. The conventional title is the first gloss, ''ur5-ra ...
'' glossary is the canonical
Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
n version of such bilingual Sumerian wordlists. A
Chinese dictionary Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Han dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for the Chinese language, and this article discusses some of ...
, the c. 3rd century BCE '' Erya'', is the earliest surviving monolingual dictionary; and some sources cite the ''
Shizhoupian The ''Shizhoupian'' () is the first known Chinese dictionary, and was written in the ancient Great Seal script. The work was traditionally dated to the reign of King Xuan of Zhou (827–782 BCE), but many modern scholars assign it to the State ...
'' (probably compiled sometime between 700 BCE to 200 BCE, possibly earlier) as a "dictionary", although modern scholarship considers it a calligraphic compendium of
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s from
Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
bronzes.
Philitas of Cos Philitas of Cos (; el, Φιλίτας ὁ Κῷος, ''Philītas ho Kōos''; – ), sometimes spelled Philetas (; , ''Philētas''; see Bibliography below), was a Greek scholar, poet and grammarian during the early Hellenistic period of ancien ...
(fl. 4th century BCE) wrote a pioneering vocabulary ''Disorderly Words'' (Ἄτακτοι γλῶσσαι, ') which explained the meanings of rare
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
ic and other literary words, words from local dialects, and technical terms.
Apollonius the Sophist Apollonius the Sophist ( el, Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Σοφιστής) was a famous grammarian, who probably lived towards the end of the 1st century AD and taught in Rome in the time of Tiberius. He was born in Alexandria, the son of another gra ...
( fl. 1st century CE) wrote the oldest surviving Homeric lexicon. The first
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
dictionary, the Amarakośa, was written by
Amarasimha Amarasimha ( IAST: Amara-siṃha, c. CE 375) was a Sanskrit grammarian and poet from ancient India, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been "one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya," and a ...
c. 4th century CE. Written in verse, it listed around 10,000 words. According to the '' Nihon Shoki'', the first
Japanese dictionary have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic ...
was the long-lost 682 CE ''Niina'' glossary of Chinese characters. The oldest existing Japanese dictionary, the c. 835 CE ''
Tenrei Banshō Meigi The is the oldest extant Japanese dictionary of Chinese characters. The title is also written 篆隷万象名義 with the modern graphic variant ''ban'' (万 "10,000; myriad") for ''ban'' (萬 "10,000; myriad"). The prominent Heian Period monk a ...
'', was also a glossary of written Chinese. In '' Frahang-i Pahlavig'',
Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
heterograms are listed together with their translation in the
Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
language and phonetic transcription in the
Pazend Pazend () or Pazand ( pal, 𐭯𐭠𐭰𐭭𐭣; ae, 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to ...
alphabet. A 9th-century CE Irish dictionary,
Sanas Cormaic ''Sanas Cormaic'' (or ''Sanas Chormaic'', Irish for "Cormac's narrative"), also known as ''Cormac's Glossary'', is an early Irish glossary containing etymologies and explanations of over 1,400 Irish words, many of which are difficult or outdated. ...
, contained etymologies and explanations of over 1,400 Irish words. In the 12th century, The
Karakhanid The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek K ...
- Turkic scholar
Mahmud Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammed al-Kashgari, ''Maḥmūd ibnu 'l-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Kāšġarī'', , tr, Kaşgarlı Mahmûd, ug, مەھمۇد قەشقىرى, ''Mehmud Qeshqiri'' / Мәһмуд Қәшқири uz, Mahmud Qashg'ariy / М ...
finished his work "Divan-u Lügat'it Türk", a dictionary about the Turkic dialects, but especially Karakhanid Turkic. His work contains about 7500 to 8000 words and it was written to teach non Turkic Muslims, especially the Abbasid Arabs, the Turkic language.
Al-Zamakhshari Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Zamakhshari (; 1074 –1143) was a medieval Muslim scholar of Iranian peoples, Iranian descent. He travelled to Mecca, Makkah and settled there for five years and has been known since then as Jar Allah ‘God's Ne ...
wrote a small Arabic dictionary called "Muḳaddimetü'l-edeb" for the Turkic-Khwarazm ruler
Atsiz Ala al-Din wa-l-Dawla Abu'l-Muzaffar Atsiz ibn Muhammad ibn Anushtegin ( fa, علاء الدين والدولة أبو المظفر عتسيز بن محمد بن أنشتكين; 1098 – 1156), better known as Atsiz () was the second Khwarazmshah ...
. In the 14th century, the
Codex Cumanicus The Codex Cumanicus is a linguistic manual of the Middle Ages, designed to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cumans, a nomadic Turkic people. It is currently housed in the Library of St. Mark, in Venice (BNM ms Lat. Z. 549 (=1597 ...
was finished and it served as a dictionary about the
Cuman The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...
-Turkic language. While in
Mamluk Egypt The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16th ...
, Ebû Hayyân el-Endelüsî finished his work "Kitâbü'l-İdrâk li-lisâni'l-Etrâk", a dictionary about the Kipchak and Turcoman languages spoken in Egypt and the
Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
. A dictionary called "Bahşayiş Lügati", which is written in old Anatolian Turkish, served also as a dictionary between Oghuz Turkish, Arabic and Persian. But it is not clear who wrote the dictionary or in which century exactly it was published. It was written in
old Anatolian Turkish Old Anatolian Turkish (OAT, tr, Eski Anadolu Türkçesi, ''EAT'') is the stage in the history of the Turkish language spoken in Anatolia from the 11th to 15th centuries. It developed into Early Ottoman Turkish. It was written in the Arabic sc ...
from the
Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...
period and not the late medieval Ottoman period. In India around 1320,
Amir Khusro Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived under the Delhi Sultanate. He is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian s ...
compiled the Khaliq-e-bari, which mainly dealt with Hindustani and
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
words.
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
dictionaries were compiled between the 8th and 14th centuries CE, organizing words in rhyme order (by the last syllable), by alphabetical order of the radicals, or according to the alphabetical order of the first letter (the system used in modern European language dictionaries). The modern system was mainly used in specialist dictionaries, such as those of terms from the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
and
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
, while most general use dictionaries, such as the ''Lisan al-`Arab'' (13th century, still the best-known large-scale dictionary of Arabic) and ''al-Qamus al-Muhit'' (14th century) listed words in the alphabetical order of the radicals. The ''Qamus al-Muhit'' is the first handy dictionary in Arabic, which includes only words and their definitions, eliminating the supporting examples used in such dictionaries as the ''Lisan'' and the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''. In medieval Europe, glossaries with equivalents for Latin words in
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
or simpler Latin were in use (e.g. the
Leiden Glossary The ''Leiden Glossary'' is a glossary contained in a manuscript in Leiden University Library in the Netherlands, Voss. Lat. Q. 69. The lemmata ( headwords) come from "a range of biblical, grammatical, and patristic texts".Lapidge, ''Anglo-Saxon Li ...
). The '' Catholicon'' (1287) by Johannes Balbus, a large grammatical work with an alphabetical lexicon, was widely adopted. It served as the basis for several bilingual dictionaries and was one of the earliest books (in 1460) to be printed. In 1502
Ambrogio Calepino Ambrogio Calepino (Latin: ''Ambrosius Calepinus''; c. 1440–1510), commonly known by the Latin form of his name, Calepinus, was an Italian lexicographer. Calepino was born in Castelli Calepio Gigliola Soldi Rondinini, Tullio De MauroCALEPIO, A ...
's ''Dictionarium'' was published, originally a monolingual Latin dictionary, which over the course of the 16th century was enlarged to become a multilingual glossary. In 1532
Robert Estienne The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
published the ''Thesaurus linguae latinae'' and in 1572 his son
Henri Estienne Henri Estienne (; ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus (), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually tak ...
published the ''
Thesaurus linguae graecae The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) is a research center at the University of California, Irvine. The TLG was founded in 1972 by Marianne McDonald (a graduate student at the time and now a professor of theater and classics at the University of Cal ...
'', which served up to the 19th century as the basis of Greek lexicography. The first monolingual Spanish dictionary written was
Sebastián Covarrubias Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocl ...
's ''
Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española The ''Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española'' (''Thesaurus of Castilian or Spanish Language'') is a dictionary of the Spanish language, written by Sebastián de Covarrubias in 1611. It was the first monolingual dictionary of the Castilian ( ...
'', published in 1611 in Madrid, Spain. In 1612 the first edition of the ''
Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca The ''Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca'' was the first dictionary of the Italian language, published in 1612 by the Accademia della Crusca. It was also only the second dictionary of a modern European language, being just one year later ...
'', for
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, was published. It served as the model for similar works in French and English. In 1690 in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
was published, posthumously, the ''Dictionnaire Universel'' by Antoine Furetière for French. In 1694 appeared the first edition of the ''
Dictionnaire de l'Académie française The ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'' is the official dictionary of the French language. The Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations ...
'' (still published, with the ninth edition not complete ). Between 1712 and 1721 was published the ''Vocabulario portughez e latino'' written by Raphael Bluteau. The
Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...
published the first edition of the ''
Diccionario de la lengua española The ''Diccionario de la lengua española'' (DLE; ; en, Dictionary of the Spanish language), previously known as ''Diccionario de la Real Academia Española'' (DRAE; en, Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy), is produced, edited, and publish ...
'' (still published, with a new edition about every decade) in 1780; their ''Diccionario de Autoridades'', which included quotes taken from literary works, was published in 1726. The ''Totius Latinitatis lexicon'' by
Egidio Forcellini Egidio Forcellini (August 26, 1688April 5, 1768) was an Italian philologist. Forcellini was born at Fener in the district of Treviso and belonged to a very poor family. He went to the seminary at Padua in 1704, studied under Facciolati, and in d ...
was firstly published in 1777; it has formed the basis of all similar works that have since been published. The first edition of '' A Greek-English Lexicon'' by
Henry George Liddell Henry George Liddell (; 6 February 1811– 18 January 1898) was dean (1855–1891) of Christ Church, Oxford, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1870–1874), headmaster (1846–1855) of Westminster School (where a house is now named after ...
and Robert Scott appeared in 1843; this work remained the basic dictionary of Greek until the end of the 20th century. And in 1858 was published the first volume of the Deutsches Wörterbuch by the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
; the work was completed in 1961. Between 1861 and 1874 was published the ''Dizionario della lingua italiana'' by
Niccolò Tommaseo Niccolò Tommaseo (; 9 October 1802 – 1 May 1874) was a Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a ''Dizionario della Lingua Italiana'' in eight volumes (1861–74), of a dictionary of synonyms (1830) and other works. He is ...
. Between 1862 and 1874 was published the six volumes of ''A magyar nyelv szótára'' (Dictionary of Hungarian Language) by Gergely Czuczor and János Fogarasi.
Émile Littré Émile Maximilien Paul Littré (; 1 February 18012 June 1881) was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his '' Dictionnaire de la langue française'', commonly called . Biography Littré was born in Paris. His fathe ...
published the
Dictionnaire de la langue française The ''Dictionnaire de la langue française'' by Émile Littré, commonly called simply the "''Littré''", is a four-volume dictionary of the French language published in Paris by Hachette. The dictionary was originally issued in 30 parts, 1863 ...
between 1863 and 1872. In the same year 1863 appeared the first volume of the ''
Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal The ''Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal'' (''WNT''; ) is a dictionary of the Dutch language. It contains between 350,000 and 400,000 entries describing Dutch words from 1500 to 1976. The paper edition consists of 43 volumes (including three sup ...
'' which was completed in 1998. Also in 1863 Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl published the ''
Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language The ''Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language'' (russian: link=no, Толко́вый слова́рь живо́го великору́сского языка́), commonly known as ''Dal's Explanatory Dictionary'' (russian: ...
''. The
Duden The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH. The Duden is updated regularly with new editions appearing every four or five years. , ...
dictionary dates back to 1880, and is currently the
prescriptive Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
source for the spelling of German. The decision to start work on the ''Svenska Akademiens ordbok'' was taken in 1787.


English dictionaries in Britain

The earliest dictionaries in the English language were glossaries of French, Spanish or Latin words along with their definitions in English. The word "dictionary" was invented by an Englishman called John of Garland in 1220 he had written a book ''Dictionarius (Johannes de Garlandia), Dictionarius'' to help with Latin "diction". An early non-alphabetical list of 8000 English words was the ''Elementarie'', created by Richard Mulcaster in 1582. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was '' A Table Alphabeticall'', written by English schoolteacher Robert Cawdrey in 1604. The only surviving copy is found at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. This dictionary, and the many imitators which followed it, was seen as unreliable and nowhere near definitive. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield was still lamenting in 1754, 150 years after Cawdrey's publication, that it is "a sort of disgrace to our nation, that hitherto we have had no… standard of our language; our dictionaries at present being more properly what our neighbors the Dutch and the Germans call theirs, word-books, than dictionaries in the superior sense of that title." In 1616, John Bullokar described the history of the dictionary with his "English Expositor". ''Glossographia'' by Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount, published in 1656, contains more than 10,000 words along with their etymologies or histories. Edward Phillips wrote another dictionary in 1658, entitled "The New World of English Words: Or a General Dictionary" which boldly Plagiarism, plagiarized Blount's work, and the two criticised each other. This created more interest in the dictionaries. John Wilkins' 1668 An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, essay on philosophical language contains a list of 11,500 words with careful distinctions, compiled by William Lloyd (bishop of Worcester), William Lloyd. Elisha Coles published his "English Dictionary" in 1676. It was not until Samuel Johnson's ''A Dictionary of the English Language'' (1755) that a more reliable English dictionary was produced. Many people today mistakenly believe that Johnson wrote the first English dictionary: a testimony to this legacy. By this stage, dictionaries had evolved to contain textual references for most words, and were arranged alphabetically, rather than by topic (a previously popular form of arrangement, which meant all animals would be grouped together, etc.). Johnson's masterwork could be judged as the first to bring all these elements together, creating the first "modern" dictionary. Johnson's dictionary remained the English-language standard for over 150 years, until the Oxford University Press began writing and releasing the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' in short wikt:fascicle, fascicles from 1884 onwards. It took nearly 50 years to complete this huge work, and they finally released the complete ''OED'' in twelve volumes in 1928. One of the main contributors to this modern dictionary was an ex-army surgeon, William Chester Minor, a convicted murderer who was confined to an asylum for the criminally insane. The OED remains the most comprehensive and trusted English language dictionary to this day, with revisions and updates added by a dedicated team every three months.


American English dictionaries

In 1806, American Noah Webster published his first dictionary, ''s:A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language''. In 1807 Webster began compiling an expanded and fully comprehensive dictionary, ''An American Dictionary of the English Language;'' it took twenty-seven years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic, and
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. Webster completed his dictionary during his year abroad in 1825 in Paris, France, and at the University of Cambridge. His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced spellings that became American English, replacing "colour" with "color", substituting "wagon" for "waggon", and printing "center" instead of "centre". He also added American words, like "skunk" and "squash," which did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828; it sold 2500 copies. In 1840, the second edition was published in two volumes. Webster's dictionary was acquired by G & C Merriam Co. in 1843, after his death, and has since been published in many revised editions. Merriam-Webster was acquired by Encyclopedia Britannica in 1964. Controversy over the lack of usage advice in the 1961 ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'' spurred publication of the 1969 ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', the first dictionary to use corpus linguistics.


Types

In a general dictionary, each word may have multiple meanings. Some dictionaries include each separate meaning in the order of most common usage while others list definitions in historical order, with the oldest usage first. In many languages, words can appear in many different forms, but only the lemma (morphology), undeclined or unconjugated form appears as the headword in most dictionaries. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book, but some newer dictionaries, like StarDict and the ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' are dictionary software running on Personal Digital Assistant, PDAs or computers. There are also many List of online dictionaries, online dictionaries accessible via the Internet.


Specialized dictionaries

According to the ''Manual of Specialized Lexicographies'', a specialized dictionary, also referred to as a technical dictionary, is a dictionary that focuses upon a specific subject field, as opposed to a dictionary that comprehensively contains words from the lexicon of a specific language or languages. Following the description in ''The Bilingual LSP Dictionary'', lexicographers categorize specialized dictionaries into three types: A multi-field dictionary broadly covers several subject fields (e.g. a business dictionary), a single-field dictionary narrowly covers one particular subject field (e.g. law), and a sub-field dictionary covers a more specialized field (e.g. constitutional law). For example, the 23-language Inter-Active Terminology for Europe is a multi-field dictionary, the American National Biography is a single-field, and the African American National Biography Project is a sub-field dictionary. In terms of the coverage distinction between "minimizing dictionaries" and "maximizing dictionaries", multi-field dictionaries tend to minimize coverage across subject fields (for instance, ''Oxford Dictionary of World Religions'' and ''Yadgar Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms'') whereas single-field and sub-field dictionaries tend to maximize coverage within a limited subject field (''The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology''). Another variant is the glossary, an alphabetical list of defined terms in a specialized field, such as medicine (medical dictionary).


Defining dictionaries

The simplest dictionary, a defining dictionary, provides a core glossary of the simplest meanings of the simplest concepts. From these, other concepts can be explained and defined, in particular for those who are first learning a language. In English, the commercial defining dictionaries typically include only one or two meanings of under 2000 words. With these, the rest of English, and even the 4000 most common English idioms and metaphors, can be defined.


Prescriptive vs. descriptive

Lexicographers apply two basic philosophies to the defining of words: ''prescriptive'' or ''descriptive''. Noah Webster, intent on forging a distinct identity for the American language, altered spellings and accentuated differences in meaning and pronunciation of some words. This is why American English now uses the spelling ''color'' while the rest of the English-speaking world prefers ''colour''. (Similarly, British English subsequently underwent a few spelling changes that did not affect American English; see further at American and British English spelling differences.) Large 20th-century dictionaries such as the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' (OED) and ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Webster's Third'' are descriptive, and attempt to describe the actual use of words. Most dictionaries of English now apply the descriptive method to a word's definition, and then, outside of the definition itself, provide information alerting readers to attitudes which may influence their choices on words often considered vulgar, offensive, erroneous, or easily confused. ''Merriam-Webster'' is subtle, only adding italicized notations such as, ''sometimes offensive'' or ''stand'' (nonstandard). ''American Heritage Dictionary, American Heritage'' goes further, discussing issues separately in numerous "usage notes." ''Encarta Webster's Dictionary, Encarta'' provides similar notes, but is more prescriptive, offering warnings and admonitions against the use of certain words considered by many to be offensive or illiterate, such as, "an offensive term for..." or "a taboo term meaning...". Because of the widespread use of dictionaries in schools, and their acceptance by many as language authorities, their treatment of the language does affect usage to some degree, with even the most descriptive dictionaries providing conservative continuity. In the long run, however, the meanings of words in English are primarily determined by usage, and the language is being changed and created every day. As Jorge Luis Borges says in the prologue to "El otro, el mismo": "''It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.''" Sometimes the same dictionary can be descriptive in some domains and prescriptive in others. For example, according to Ghil'ad Zuckermann, the ''Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary'' is "at war with itself": whereas its coverage (lexical items) and glosses (definitions) are descriptive and colloquial, its Niqqud, vocalization is prescriptive. This internal conflict results in absurd sentences such as ''hi taharóg otí kshetiré me asíti lamkhonít'' (she'll tear me apart when she sees what I've done to the car). Whereas ''hi taharóg otí'', literally 'she will kill me', is colloquial, ''me'' (a variant of ''ma'' 'what') is archaic, resulting in a combination that is unutterable in real life.


Historical dictionaries

A historical dictionary is a specific kind of descriptive dictionary which describes the development of words and senses over time, usually using citations to original source material to support its conclusions.


Dictionaries for natural language processing

In contrast to traditional dictionaries, which are designed to be used by human beings, dictionaries for natural language processing (NLP) are built to be used by computer programs. The final user is a human being but the direct user is a program. Such a dictionary does not need to be able to be printed on paper. The structure of the content is not linear, ordered entry by entry but has the form of a complex network (see Diathesis alternation). Because most of these dictionaries are used to control machine translations or cross-lingual information retrieval (CLIR) the content is usually multilingual and usually of huge size. In order to allow formalized exchange and merging of dictionaries, an ISO standard called Lexical Markup Framework (LMF) has been defined and used among the industrial and academic community.


Other types

* Bilingual dictionary * Collegiate dictionary (American) * Learner's dictionary (mostly British) * Electronic dictionary * Encyclopedic dictionary * Monolingual learner's dictionary ** Advanced learner's dictionary * By sound ** Rhyming dictionary * Reverse dictionary (Conceptual dictionary) * Visual dictionary * The Devil's Dictionary, Satirical dictionary * Phonetic dictionary


Pronunciation

In many languages, such as the English language, the pronunciation of some words is not consistently apparent from their spelling. In these languages, dictionaries usually provide the pronunciation. For example, the definition for the word ''dictionary'' might be followed by the International Phonetic Alphabet spelling (in British English) or (in American English). American English dictionaries often use their own pronunciation respelling systems with diacritics, for example ''dictionary'' is respelled as "dĭk′shə-nĕr′ē" in the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, American Heritage Dictionary. The IPA is more commonly used within the British Commonwealth countries. Yet others use their own pronunciation respelling systems without diacritics: for example, ''dictionary'' may be respelled as . Some online or electronic dictionaries provide audio recordings of words being spoken.


Examples


Major English dictionaries


Dictionaries of other languages

Histories and descriptions of the dictionaries of other languages on Wikipedia include: * List of Arabic dictionaries, Arabic dictionaries *
Chinese dictionaries Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Han dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for the Chinese language, and this article discusses some of ...
* Dehkhoda Dictionary (Persian Language) * List of Dutch dictionaries, Dutch dictionaries * List of French dictionaries, French dictionaries * List of German dictionaries, German dictionaries * Japanese dictionary, Japanese dictionaries * Polish dictionaries * Scottish Gaelic dictionaries * Scottish Language Dictionaries * Sindhi to English Dictionary, Sindhi Language Dictionaries


Online dictionaries

The age of the Internet brought online dictionaries to the desktop and, more recently, to the smart phone. David Skinner (journalist), David Skinner in 2013 noted that "Among the top ten lookups on Merriam-Webster Online at this moment are ''holistic, pragmatic, caveat, esoteric'' and ''bourgeois.'' Teaching users about words they don't already know has been, historically, an aim of lexicography, and modern dictionaries do this well." There exist a number of websites which operate as online dictionaries, usually with a specialized focus. Some of them have exclusively user driven content, often consisting of neologisms. Some of the more notable examples are given in List of online dictionaries and :Online dictionaries.


See also


Notes


References

* * * * * *Atkins, B.T.S. & Rundell, Michael (2008) ''The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography'', Oxford: Oxford University Press. * (published in the UK as ''The Surgeon of Crowthorne''). *


Further reading

* Guy Jean Forgue, "The Norm in American English", ''Revue Française d'Etudes Americaines,'' Nov 1983, Vol. 8 Issue 18, pp. 451–461. An international appreciation of the importance of Webster's dictionaries in setting the norms of the English language.


External links

*
Glossary of dictionary terms
by the Oxford University Press * {{Authority control Dictionaries, Lexicography Reference works