Abstract

Notes on the Webster's Dictionary

This article presents information on the new edition of Webster's Dictionary in a suggestive manner. The author first introduces some remarks on the use of dictionaries, and on the most convenient form and arrangement of lexicons and alphabetical books of reference in general. Thereafter, he focuses on some of the etymologies and definitions of Webster's Dictionary. According to him, the abundance and variety of general and special word and phrase books, dictionaries of synonyms, difficulties and quotations, biographical, geographical, and technical lexicons, glossaries to particular authors, vocabularies of special eras or dialects, concordances, digests, and encyclopedias, are amongst the most conspicuous of the features which distinguish modern from ancient literature. Indexes and glossaries to particular volumes may very well have existed before the introduction of typography, and both Oriental and European philology have shown that technical lexicography was possible in the Middle Ages.