Page 180 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two
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dictionaries and encyclopedias 529



                                When I feel inclined to read poetry, I take down my dictionary. The poetry of words is quite as
                              beautiful as the poetry of sentences. The author may arrange the gems effectively, but their shape
                       and lustre have been given by the attrition of ages. • Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894)



            1573). However, the beginning of the modern Japanese  used alphabetical order (Collison 1964). Another later
            dictionary is traced to the Rakuy¯oshu¯, published by the  landmark was Ambrosius Calepino’s  Dictionarium ex
            Jesuits in 1598 (Bailey 1960).                      opitmis quibusquam... (1502), which came out in nu-
              Beside the Jesuit influence on Japanese dictionaries,  merous editions into the early 1700s. Initially the Dic-
            there is an undeniable legacy of Western influence on  tionarium was in Latin, but later expanded to a number
            non-Western dictionary making. Dictionaries of many  of other languages including Hebrew, German, French,
            African and Asian and Pacific languages are relatively  Greek, Italian, and English (Green 1996).
            recent and bear the imprint of Western contact. Many of
            the first to study these languages and write dictionaries  English Dictionaries
            were missionaries and social workers. While making a  The first purely English dictionary was Robert Caw-
            significant contribution in being the first to record these  drey’s Table Alphabeticall in 1604. Consisting of only
            languages, often their work was didactic and moralizing.  2,560 entries, mostly plagiarized from other sources,
            In addition early missionaries like Alexandre de Rhodes  Cawdrey concentrated on so-called hard words. This
            compiled dictionaries using Romanized scripts, further  “hard word” tradition held sway through the seventeenth
            portraying the native language through Western eyes.The  century. Attempting to record all English words was left
            same holds true for African languages with the later, more  to the remarkable Oxford English Dictionary nearly three
            formal efforts of organizations like the International  centuries later.
            Institute of African Languages and Cultures, founded in  Dozens of other dictionaries were published after
            London (1926), and the Instituto de Estudios Africanos,  Cawdrey, but it was Samuel Johnson who authored the
            founded in Madrid (1939). And today, modern Arabic  first great English dictionary. In a sense Johnson’s work
            lexicographers, inspired by E.W. Lane’s Madd al- Qa¯mu¯s,  was in response to the great continental dictionaries like
            Arabic-English Lexicon  (1863–1893), follow Western  those of Italy, the Accademia della Crusa’s Vocabolario
            methods and principles.                             (1612), and France, the  Dictionnaire de l’Académie
                                                                Française (1694). Johnson’s  Dictionary of the English
            Greeks and Romans                                   Language (1755) answered the need for an authoritative
            After the first century, Greeks and Romans continued  English language dictionary and “the growing desire to
            building a tradition of lexicography. The famous Greek  create...a national language” (Green 1996, 226). But
            philologist Aristophanes of Byzantium assembled the first  instead of being a national project undertaken by an
            Greek dictionary entitled Lexeis (200 BCE) based on pre-  academy of scholars, the work was left to Johnson and
            vious glossai and wordlists.The prolific Marcus Terentius  six assistants. In all Johnson defined some 40,000
            Varro contributed the De Lingua Latin (43 BCE) that was  headwords, using approximately 118,000 quotations to
            more a grammar, but with a number of etymologies.   support and differentiate meanings.
            Other writers like Verrius Flaccus (c. 10 BCE) and his De  National impulses also inspired the work of Noah
            Signigicatu Verborum, Julius Pollux (180–238 CE) and his  Webster. He realized that American English was distinct
            Onomasticon, and Photius (860–935 CE) and his Lexi-  from the language spoken in England, and his American
            con, also made their mark on early lexicography. Their  Dictionary of the English Language (1828) reflected this
            work, and similar efforts, culminated in the great tenth-  fact. His dictionary also had a lasting impact on the
            century lexicon the Suda or Suidas. Actually a combina-  spelling of American English. But Webster’s work may
            tion dictionary and encyclopedia, the  Suda contained  have faded from view had not George and Charles Mer-
            about thirty thousand entries on language, literature, and  riam purchased the rights from his family.The Merriams
            history. More importantly, it integrated all of this mate-  improved the quality of the dictionary and published
            rial, alphabetically. Up to this point, most works had not  revisions and abridgements on a regular schedule. The
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