Dictionary |
For the sister project Wiktionary, see [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Main_Page http://wiktionary.org/].
A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. In some languages, words can appear in many different forms, but only the lemma (linguistics) form appears as the main word or headword in most dictionaries. Many dictionaries also provide pronunciation information; grammar information; word derivations, histories, or etymology; illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in the form of a book.
=Word order=
Today, dictionaries of languages with alphabetic and syllabic writing systems list words in alphabetical or some analogous phonetic order. Words and characters in ideographic writing systems such as Chinese character are sorted according to one of numerous schemes based on the components, number of Stroke order, overall shape, or pronunciation of each character. Due to the nature of Chinese characters, linear sorts are particularly unsuitable for Chinese dictionaries. (See collation for more information on linguistic sorting).
The first English alphabetical dictionary came out in 1604 and alphabetical ordering was a rarity until the 18th century. Before alphabetical listings, dictionaries were organized by topic, i.e. a list of animals all together in one topic.
=Pronunciation=
Dictionaries have had a variety of means of expressing the means of pronouncing words in those languages that are not entirely phonetic. Three different methods are common.
The earliest was simply to indicate the syllables that have greater stress using accent marks, such as in Samuel Johnson s eighteenth century dictionary. Here the accent mark followed the stressed syllable. This is analogous to the tonal marks for Chinese or the accent nucleus for Japanese. Regular languages such as Spanish do not need any special marking for this purpose.
For unphonetic languages that have no official standard pronunciation, like English or German, a system of respelling was introduced with the letters given accent marks (e.g., macrons, tildes, breves, circumflexes) that do not occur in ordinary writing to assist the reader in pronouncing the words. These had the additional capacity for accepting regional differences, especially in a federal society. For example, most Americans pronounce the first vowel in one group of words such as ask and dance in one manner, while it is a standard for the English to pronounce them in a consistenly different manner. Some dictionaries before 1970 added an accent mark of one dot atop the letter a, which specifies this choice, rather than either one definitively.
Finally, totally new phonetic alphabets such as IPA were devised, especially for those languages like French which have an official pronunciation. These use an accent mark that precedes a stressed syllable. It is also used to indicate only one preferred pronunciation, such as Received pronunciation or General American, for foreigners to learn the language or for domestic people to alter their dialect. Currently this system has prestige, but it cannot easily interrelate dialectic variations.
=Coverage=
Dictionaries vary wildly in size and scope. A dictionary that attempts to cover as many words from a particular speech community as possible is called a maximizing dictionary (e.g. the Oxford English Dictionary ), whereas a dictionary that attempts to cover only a limited selection of words from a speech community is called a minimizing dictionary (e.g. a dictionary containing the 2000 most frequently used words in the English language).
=Special-purpose dictionaries=
There are many different types of dictionaries, including bilingual, multilingual, historical, biographical, and geographical dictionaries.
==Bilingual dictionaries==
In bilingual dictionaries, each entry has translations of words in another language. For example, in a Japanese-English dictionary, the entry tsuki has the corresponding English word, moon. In dictionaries between English and a language using a non-Roman alphabet script, entry words in the non-English language may either be printed and sorted in the native order, or Romanization and sorted in Roman alphabetical order.
==Specialized dictionaries==
Specialized dictionaries (also referred to as technical dictionaries) focus on linguistic and factual matters relating to specific subject fields. A specialized dictionary may have a relatively broad coverage, in that it covers several subject fields such as science and technology (a multi-field dictionary), or their coverage may be more narrow, in that they cover one particular subject field such as law (a single-field dictionary) or even a specific sub-field such as contract law (a sub-field dictionary). Specialized dictionaries may be maximizing dictionaries, i.e. they attempt to achieve comprehensive coverage of the terms in the subject field concerned, or they may be minimizing dictionaries, i.e. they attempt to cover only a limited number of the specialized vocabulary concerned. Generally, multi-field dictionaries tend to be minimizing, whereas single-field and sub-field dictionaries tend to be maximizing. See also LSP dictionary.
==Character dictionaries==
In East Asian languages, a dictionary specialized in Chinese character has developed, called Kan-wa jiten (literally Han-Japanese dictionary ) in Japanese and Okpyeon ( Jewel Book ) in Korean. Each entry has one Chinese character with information about stroke (Chinese character) count and order, readings (pronunciations), and a list of words using that character.
==Glossaries==
Another variant is the Glossary, an alphabetical list of defined terms in a specialized field, such as medicine or science. 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.
=Variations between dictionaries=
==Prescription and description==
Dictionary makers apply two basic philosophies to the defining of words: prescriptive or descriptive . The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is descriptive , and attempts to describe the actual use of words. Noah Webster, on the other hand, intent on forging a distinct identity for the American language, altered spellings and accentuated differences in meaning and pronunciation of numerous words. This is why American English now uses the spelling color while Commonwealth English uses colour . (See American and British English differences.) While not always accepted in the UK, the American spellings are universally understood; likewise the British spellings are not acceptable in America.
While descriptivists would charge that prescriptivism is an unnatural attempt to dictate usage or curtail change, prescriptivists would argue that to document, without judgment, usages which they consider improper or inferior sanctions those usages by default, causing the language to deteriorate in practice. Although much is made of these differing views, they usually apply to a very small number of controversial words, while not affecting the vast majority for which there is common agreement. But the softening of usage notations, from the previous edition, for two words, ain t and irregardless, out of over 450,000 in Webster s Third New International Dictionary in 1961, was enough to provoke outrage among many with prescriptivist leanings, who branded the dictionary as permissive.
The prescriptive/descriptive issue has been given so much consideration in modern times that most dictionaries of English apply the descriptive method to definitions, while additionally informing readers of 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 nonstand (nonstandard.) American Heritage Dictionary goes further, discussing issues separately in numerous usage notes. Encarta Webster s Dictionary 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 broad use of dictionaries, and their acceptance by many as language authorities, their treatment of the language does affect usage to some degree, even the most descriptive dictionaries providing conservative continuity. In the long run, however, usage primarily determines the meanings of words in English, 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.
==Other variations==
Since words and their meanings develop over time, dictionary entries are organized to reflect these changes. Dictionaries may either list meanings in the historical order in which they appeared, or may list meanings in order of popularity and most common use.
Dictionaries also differ in the degree to which they are encyclopedic , providing considerable background information, illustrations, and the like, or linguistic , concentrating on etymology, nuances of meaning, and quotations demonstrating usage.
Any dictionary has been designed to fulfil one or more functions. The dictionary functions chosen by the maker(s) of the dictionary provide the basis for all lexicographic decisions, from the selection of entry words, over the choice of information types, to the choice of place for the information (e.g. in an article or in an appendix). There are two main types of function. The communication-oriented functions comprise text reception (understanding), text production, text revision, and translation. The knowledge-oriented functions deal with situations where the dictionary is used for acquiring specific knowledge about a particular matter, and for acquiring general knowledge about something. The optimal dictionary is one that contains information directly relevant for the needs of the users relating to one or more of these functions. It is important that the information is presented in a way that keeps the lexicographic information costs at a minimum.
=History=
The art and craft of writing dictionaries is called lexicography.
One of the earliest dictionaries known, and which is still extant today in an abridged form, was written in Latin during the reign of the emperor Augustus. It is known by the title De Significatu Verborum ( On the meaning of words ) and was originally compiled by Verrius Flaccus. It was twice abridged in succeeding centuries, first by Festus, and then by Paul the Deacon. Verrius Flaccus dictionary was an abridged list of difficult or antiquated words, whose usage was illustrated by quotations from early Roman authors.
The first true English dictionary was the Table Alphabeticall of 1606, although it only included 3,000 words and the definitions it contained were little more than synonyms. The first one to be at all comprehensive was Thomas Blount (Lexicographer) s dictionary Glossographia of 1656. This was followed by Samuel Johnson s famous and more complete dictionary of 1755.
Noah Webster s Dictionary was published by the G&C Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts which still publishes Merriam-Webster dictionaries, but the term Webster s is considered generic and can be used by any dictionary.
The most complete dictionary of the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary. The first edition was properly begun in 1860 and was completed in 1928, by which time a supplement that took an additional five years to complete was already necessary.
Also see [http://angli02.kgw.tu-berlin.de/lexicography/data/b_history.html A Brief History of English Lexicography]
=Miscellaneous=
The Irish mathematical physicist, John Lighton Synge, created a game, Game of Circ, to emphasize the circular reasoning implicit in the defining process of any standard dictionary.
=List of major dictionaries=
==Arabic==
*Kitab al-Ayn *Al Mujam al waseet *Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
==Catalan==
*[http://www.grec.net/home/cel/dicc.htm Diccionari de l Enciclopèdia Catalana] *[http://pdl.iec.es/entrada/diec.asp Diccionari de l Institut d Estudis Catalans]
==Chinese==
*Shuowen Jiezi *Kangxi Zidian *Rime dictionary
==Dutch==
*[http://www.vandale.nl Van Dale] *[http://blackorwhite.nl/woordenboek Online Nederlands Woordenboek]
==English==
==French==
*Le dictionnaire de l Académie française (prescriptive) *Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française ( Le Robert ) (descriptive) **Petit Robert (abridgement) *Dictionnaire de la langue française (Littré)
==German==
*Duden *Der Gro�e Muret Sanders by Langenscheidt *Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~cd2/drw/ *Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm http://www.dwb.uni-trier.de/
==Japanese==
: Main article: Japanese dictionaries
==Norwegian==
==Portuguese==
==Romanian==
==Spanish==
==Swedish==
*Svenska Akademiens Ordbok
==Publishers==
*Cambridge University Press *Chambers Harrap *HarperCollins *Funk and Wagnalls *Merriam-Webster *Oxford University Press *Pwn
=List of online dictionaries=
# Online versions of printed dictionaries #*[http://www.m-w.com/ The Merriam-Webster Dictionary] #*[http://www.oed.com/ The Oxford English Dictionary] (requires subscription) #*[http://www.askoxford.com/dictionaries The Compact Oxford English Dictionary] #*[http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ Cambridge Advanced Learner s Dictionary etc. (Cambridge Dictionaries Online)] #*[http://www.ldoceonline.com/ Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English] #*[http://eedic.naver.com/ Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner s English Dictionary 4th edition (note: Korean site, but all results in English)] #*[http://www.cooldictionary.com/ Talking, fully crosslinked dictionary using Webster, Wiktionary and Wikipedia] #*[http://www.bartleby.com/61/ The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition] #*[http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au The Macquarie Dictionary] Australian English (requires subscription) #*[http://www.americana.ru Americana English-Russian Dictionary] - the first bilingual dictionary about the United States, over 20,000 entries #*[http://www.dwds.de/wdg Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache] (Dictionary of contemporary German language) #*[http://www.blueray.com/magic/ Magic Words: A Dictionary] (free online version, 500+ essay-style entries) #*[http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ Four Japanese Dictionaries] published by Sanseido, including the EXCEED EJ/JE dictionaries and the big Daijirin monolingual dictionary #*[http://kod.kenkyusha.co.jp/service/ Kenkyusha Online Dictionary] featuring several major print dictionaries including the 5th edition New Japanese-English Dictionary (subscription) # Online-only general dictionaries #* [http://www.doubletongued.org Double-Tongued Word Wrester] A dictionary of new and old words from the fringes of English, professionally collected, researched, and defined. Includes slang, argot, jargon, and colloquialisms. #* [http://www.dendanskenetordbog.dk/netdob/ Netordbogen] #* [http://www.giantpicturedictionary.com/ Picture Dictionary] Online Picture Dictionary with search function. Uses pictures and symbols from Universal Picture Language. Grasp the meaning of a word with just a glance at its representative picture. #* [http://open-dictionary.com/ Open Dictionary] Offers various definitions, translations and pronunciations in many languages (uses Wiktionary and WordNet for most of its entries). #* [http://www.wordwebonline.com WordWebOnline.com] A dictionary/thesaurus and meta-search (also available as a [http://wordweb.info/free/ free download]) #* [http://www.thefreedictionary.com TheFreeDictionary.com] A dictionary, a thesaurus, a literature reference library, and a search engine all in one. #* [http://www.hyperdictionary.com hyperdictionary.com] One of the more comprehensive online dictionaries. #* [http://www.elook.org/dictionary/ eLook Dictionary] A dictionary with synonyms, antonyms, and related words. #* [http://lookword.com/ Lookword free online Dictionary] English dictionary. #* [http://www.webster-dictionary.org/ www.webster-dictionary.org] A dictionary and a thesaurus. A republisher of existing Internet dictionaries. Appears to be an attempt at a portal site. #* [http://www.dictionary.com Dictionary.com] A dictionary and thesaurus and other language aids. #*[http://www.dictionarydefinition.net/ Dictionary Definition] #*[http://www.english-dictionary.us/ English dictionary] Fast and simple English dictionary with US and UK spellings. #*[http://www.objectgraph.com/dictionary ObjectGraph.com] Suggestive dictionary, Suggests words as you type. #* Portuguese: [http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/dlpo.aspx] #* [http://www.demauroparavia.it De Mauro] Italian definition #* [http://www.oxfordparavia.it Oxford Paravia] Italian-English, English-Italian #* [http://www.garzantilinguistica.it Garzanti Linguistica] Italian definition, Italian-English, English-Italian, Italian-French, French-Italian # Dictionary Collections #* [http://www.dicts.info All free dictionaries project] Vast collection of all existing free dictionaries. #* [http://dmoz.org/Reference/Dictionaries/ Dictionaries listed on DMOZ] #* [http://www.HavenWorks.com/dictionary HavenWorks] #* [http://www.onelook.com OneLook] Searches almost 1000 online dictionaries for more than 6 million indexed words. #* [http://www.dictionary.info Dictionary] #* [http://www.yourdictionary.com Yourdictionary.com] Large list of online dictionaries. #* [http://www.majstro.com/Web/Majstro/wboek_zoek.phpgebrTaal=eng&bronTaal=eng&doelTaal=eng Majstro s dictionary database] Dictionary search #* [http://www.a-z-dictionaries.com A-Z-Dictionaries] Large collection of dictionaries and resources. #* [http://www.xrefer.com xrefer] Offers access to dictionaries and other reference works. Pay site. # Specialty Dictionaries #* [http://www.romlawonline.com Dean s Law Dictionary] - includes 145,000 plus terms, over 170,000 case cites, 26,000 Latin Words, 65,000 plus synonyms, its digital and created with artificial intelligence. #* [http://www.washjeff.edu/capl/ CAPL: Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon] German-English bidirectional visual dictionary with authentic images of German speaking world #* [http://www.blueray.com/dictionary/ Dictionaries of All-Consonant and All-Vowel Words] Several thousand definitions of unusual words, with copious literary examples of usage. #* [http://www.dict.pl e-DICT] English-Polish, Polish-English dictionary #* [http://www.dep.pl DeP] German-Polish, Polish-German dictionary #* [http://www.sprog.asb.dk/sn/cisg/ Danish-English Law Dictionary] The only on-line dictionary covering Danish and English legal language. #* [http://netdob.asb.dk/iasdkgb/ Danish-English Accounting Dictionary] The authoritative dictionary on Danish and English accouting terminology with collocations and phrases. #* [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/english/emed/emedd.html The Early Modern English Dictionaries Database] A collection of the earliest English language dictionaries. #* [http://www.pseudodictionary.com Pseudodictionary] Slang, colloquialisms, and made-up words. Accepts new entries. No intent to be a serious reference work. #* [http://www.urbandictionary.com/ Urban Dictionary] Slang dictionary that you can edit. #* [http://skepdic.com/ The Skeptic s Dictionary] Dictionary taking a cynical view on new age and occult words. # Multilingual Dictionaries #* [http://www.dicts.info/ud.php Universal dictionary] Multilingual dictionary interconnecting more than 35 languages. #* [http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx POPjisyo is an Online Japanese/Chinese/Korean/English dictionary] which adds pop-up hints to other sites and generates study-lists/matching games based on content. #* [http://www.majstro.com/Web/Majstro/dict.phpgebrTaal=eng&bronTaal=epo&doelTaal=eng Majstro Multilingual Translation Dictionary]: An on-line translation dictionary that uses Esperanto as a bridge language #* [http://www.online-dictionary.biz/ Online dictionary] free multi-lingual online dictionary between English and one of seven other languages. #* [http://www.shabdkosh.com English-Hindi Dictionary ] #* [http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dict_en_es/ Yahoo! Spanish-English Dictionary] #* [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/ Webster s Online Dictionary] – the Rosetta Edition. Over 3,000,000 terms across 90 languages. #* [http://dict.leo.org/ Leo] - English-German (and vice-versa) dictionary; English-French (and vice-versa) dictionary, cf. leo.org #* [http://www.ego4u.com/en/dictionary English-German Dictionary] (and vice-versa) with International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation information #* [http://europa.eu.int/eurodicautom/Controller Terminology database of the EU], with 11 European Union languages #* [http://www.sprawk.com/ Sprawk Semantic Dictionary], based on WordNet with over 20 languages #* [http://www.woerterbuch.info woerterbuch.info] - English-German Dictionary with over 600.000 translations #* [http://www.dict.cc/ dict.cc] - English-German (and vice-versa) Dictionary #* [http://www.ilexer.org/ ilexer] - English-German (and vice-versa) Dictionary #*[http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html WWWJDIC] online Japanese-English/German/French dictionary. Has text-glossing, verb conjugations, etc. # Downloadable Dictionaries #* [http://www.dicts.info/uddl.php Universal dictionary download] - Hundreds of downloadable free dictionaries. #* [http://www.romlawonline.com Dean s Law Dictionary] - includes 145,000 plus terms, over 170,000 case cites, 26,000 Latin Words, 65,000 plus synonyms, its digital and created with artificial intelligence. #* [http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~ralph/OPTED/index.html Online Plain Text English Dictionary] – based on the Gutenberg Webster s Abridged Dictionary #* [http://www.gutenberg.net/cgi-bin/search/t9.cgiauthor=&title=webster%27s+abridged&subject=&ntes=&whole=yes&language=&filetype=&class_lc= The Gutenberg Webster s Abridged Dictionary] – In parts. First 200 pages available without copyrights, rest available. #* [http://wordweb.info/free/ WordWeb] Free international English dictionary for Windows (Pro version also available) #* [http://www.ifinger.com/shop/productpresentation.asppID=44 iFinger: FREE Merriam-Webster Concise Dictionary] Free registration is required after clicking on DOWNLOAD #* [http://www.ego4u.com/en/lingo4u-dictionary Lingo4u Dictionary] - English-German Dictionary for Windows (Freeware)
The DICT protocol is a client/server model for dictionaries. Many free dictionaries are appearing in the dict format.
=List of collaborative dictionaries=
An open content dictionary project is the Collaborative International Dictionary of English, using Webster s Dictionary (1913) and WordNet as its sources. The GNU version of it, GCIDE, is being developed collaboratively under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Other collaborative dictionary projects:
= See also =
=References=
Dictionary
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