A Mistake That Taught You an Important Lesson
Chapter 1: Basic concepts and terms
This chapter answers the following questions: What is a dictionary? What are the different types of dictionaries? How can we describe a dictionary? What are the elements of a dictionary? What are the different kinds of information dictionaries provide?
What is a dictionary?
This is the first question one encounters when learning about dictionary skills or reading any book on lexicography (the art of compiling dictionaries). Defining the term "dictionary" is important to distinguish it from other reference books, which may look similar, like encyclopedias. Etymologically, the word "dictionary" comes from the Middle Latin word "dictionarium," which means "collection of words and phrases". This definition relates to the basic function of dictionaries which is listing the words of a language or a particular field of knowledge. This simple fact is the basis of all the definitions proposed for a dictionary. A dictionary is a book used as a reference source which contains lists of words arranged alphabetically or thematically, with explanations of their meanings (semantic information in monolingual dictionaries) or with their equivalents (in bi-, tri-, or multilingual dictionaries). They may also include more information related to orthography (spelling, alternate spellings), morphology (syllabification, word inflections, derivative forms, morphological paradigm), phonology (pronunciation, stress pattern), etymology (word history and origin), syntax (part of speech, verb type, noun type, etc), pragmatics (usage, frequency of use, style, context), and other semantic information (related words such as synonyms, antonyms).
A dictionary may variously be referred to as: word book, lexicon, thesaurus, vocabulary, glossary, and concordance. However, each one of these is slightly different in scope. For example, a thesaurus (also from Latin, and which means a treasury or a storehouse) presents synonyms and antonyms; a glossary usually
This chapter answers the following questions: What is a dictionary? What are the different types of dictionaries? How can we describe a dictionary? What are the elements of a dictionary? What are the different kinds of information dictionaries provide?
What is a dictionary?
This is the first question one encounters when learning about dictionary skills or reading any book on lexicography (the art of compiling dictionaries). Defining the term "dictionary" is important to distinguish it from other reference books, which may look similar, like encyclopedias. Etymologically, the word "dictionary" comes from the Middle Latin word "dictionarium," which means "collection of words and phrases". This definition relates to the basic function of dictionaries which is listing the words of a language or a particular field of knowledge. This simple fact is the basis of all the definitions proposed for a dictionary. A dictionary is a book used as a reference source which contains lists of words arranged alphabetically or thematically, with explanations of their meanings (semantic information in monolingual dictionaries) or with their equivalents (in bi-, tri-, or multilingual dictionaries). They may also include more information related to orthography (spelling, alternate spellings), morphology (syllabification, word inflections, derivative forms, morphological paradigm), phonology (pronunciation, stress pattern), etymology (word history and origin), syntax (part of speech, verb type, noun type, etc), pragmatics (usage, frequency of use, style, context), and other semantic information (related words such as synonyms, antonyms).
A dictionary may variously be referred to as: word book, lexicon, thesaurus, vocabulary, glossary, and concordance. However, each one of these is slightly different in scope. For example, a thesaurus (also from Latin, and which means a treasury or a storehouse) presents synonyms and antonyms; a glossary usually