alphabetical compilation of the words of a language, giving their meanings, spellings, etymology, pronunciation, and syllabication. In a more general sense, the term dictionary is also applied to any alphabetically arranged compendium of special aspects of a language such as abbreviations, slang, or etymology, or in which the special terms of a subject are defined. Thus, in recent times dictionaries have been devoted to science, biography, geography, mathematics, history, and philosophy.

Encyclopedic Dictionaries.

Among dictionaries defined as encyclopedic, because they not only define words but also explain things, is the great French 19th-century dictionary-encyclopedia, the Grand dictionnaire universel du XIX^e siècle (Great Universal Dictionary of the 19th Century; 17 vol., 1876), compiled by the French grammarian, lexicographer, and encyclopedist Pierre Athanase Larousse. The greatest such American work is the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (rev. ed., 12 vol., 1911), edited by the American linguist William Dwight Whitney (1827–94). It defines general terms as well as biographical and geographical names.

Earliest Dictionaries.

The earliest known dictionaries were found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. Dating from the 7th century bc and consisting of clay tablets inscribed in columns of CUNEIFORM (q.v.) writing, they remain the key to a knowledge of Mesopotamian culture. Later dictionaries, most written after the 5th century ad, include Sanskrit (see SANSKRIT LANGUAGE) dictionaries of botany, medicine, and astronomy, and polyglot lexicons in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese. The first attempt to gather the entire Arabic vocabulary into one work was probably made by Khalil ibn Ahmad of Oman (c. 718–91), who adopted an arrangement based on certain phonetic and philological principles. The compilation of Hebrew dictionaries began about the 10th century (although some scholars place the beginnings of Hebrew lexicography between the 6th and 8th centuries), originating from, and stimulated by, the study of Arabic.

The Greeks and Romans did not conceive of a work containing all the words of their own or any foreign language; their early dictionaries were merely glossaries of unusual words or phrases. The first Greek lexicon, a collection of terms used by Homer, was compiled by the philosopher Apollonius during the 1st century bc. One of the earliest works in Latin lexicography, by Verrius Flaccus (fl. 1st cent. ad), is De Verborum Significatu (The Meaning of Words). This work, in which the words are arranged alphabetically, has furnished much information on antiquities and grammar. The earliest polyglot dictionary (1502) was the work of the Italian monk Ambrogio Calepino (1435–1511). Originally compiled as a Latin-Greek lexicon, it was extended to include Italian, French, and Spanish; the 1590 Basel edition included 11 languages.

Standard European Dictionaries.

An important dictionary of literary French is the 2-volume Dictionnaire de l’Académie-Française (8th ed., 1931–35). Works containing more recent vocabulary are the Dictionnaire de la langue française (7 vol., 1956–58), a reprint of the work of the scholar Maximilien Paul Émile Littré (1801–81); and the Grand Larousse de la langue française (7 vol., 1971–78). The standard modern Italian dictionary is the Grande dizionario della lingua italiana (1961–    ), and that of the Spanish language is Diccionario de la lengua española (19th ed., 1970). For German, the Deutsches Wörterbuch (16 vol., 1854–1960; rev. ed. begun 1965), commenced by the scholars Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, is the great standard wordbook. Two Russian dictionaries are indispensable for that language: the 4-volume Slovar’ russkogo iazyka (1957–61) for current, more popular usage, and the 17-volume Slovar’ sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo iazyka (1950–65) for the more literary language.

Beyond these scholarly works, compiled on historical principles, are the numerous bilingual dictionaries, of varying degrees of reliability, designed for the person learning a language and thus generally limited to word equivalents, not derivations or pronunciation.

English Dictionaries.

The Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum (Storehouse for Children or Clerics), compiled in 1440 by the Dominican monk Galfridus Grammaticus, also known as Geoffrey the Grammarian, in Norfolk, England, and printed by the Alsatian-born printer Wynkyn de Worde (fl. 1472–1534), may be regarded as the first English dictionary. It consisted of Latin equivalents of 10,000 English words and remained a leading wordbook for several generations. It was followed by the Bibliotheca (1538) of the English author and administrator Sir Thomas Elyot (1490?–1546), another English-Latin dictionary. Robert Cawdry (fl. 1580–1604), in A Table Alphabeticall. . . of hard usuall english wordes (1604), produced the first dictionary giving definitions in English of English words. The word dictionary was first used in the title by Henry Cockeram (fl. 1623–50) in The English Dictionarie (1623). In 1656 Thomas Blount (1618–79) issued his Glossographia, also entirely in English with “. . . hard words together with Divinity Terms, Law, Physick, Mathematicks and other Arts and Sciences explicated.” These early works characteristically confined themselves to “hard words” and phrases not generally understood, because the daily vocabulary of the language was not expected to require elucidation.

A New English Dictionary (1702) by the lexicographer John Kersey (fl. 1684–1720) was a departure from the hard-word tradition; it included ordinary English words as well as unfamiliar ones. Another early attempt at a comprehensive inventory of the English language was the Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721) by Nathan Bailey (fl. 1691–1742), reissued in 1730 as the Dictionarium Brittanicum: A More Compleat Universal Etymological Dictionary Than Any Extant. This work used quotations from established literary works to confirm and supplement definitions. The 2-volume lexicon A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) by the lexicographer, essayist, and literary critic Samuel Johnson further extended the use of quotations. Johnson’s dictionary remained the model of English lexicography for more than a century.

Dictionaries with guides to pronunciation were compiled by the British publisher David Buchanan (1745–1812). The actor Thomas Sheridan (1719–88) later compiled a General Dictionary of the English Language (1780) with the object of establishing a permanent standard of pronunciation. The most influential of the dictionaries concerned with pronunciation was the Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791) by another actor, John Walker (1732–1807).

The most comprehensive lexicographic work in the English language, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (NED), popularly known as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), was begun under the auspices of the English Philological Society in 1857. The Scottish lexicographer Sir James Augustus Henry Murray became editor in 1879; the first 10 volumes were published between 1884 and 1928, and the last 3 volumes were added in 1933. A 4-volume supplement was issued between 1972 and 1986. A 20-volume second edition was published in 1989; it became available on CD-ROM in 1992 and on the INTERNET, (q.v.) in 2000. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, a 2-volume micrographically reduced version of the 13-volume set, was published in 1971. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, a 2-volume abridgment with some revisions in pronunciation, was issued in 1933. It was revised twice, and a reset edition was published in 1973. The Scottish lexicographer Sir William A. Craigie, who had collaborated on the editing of the OED, began a companion work in 1936; A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles was completed in 4 volumes in 1944.

American Dictionaries.

The first historically important contribution to American lexicography was the volume A New and Accurate Standard of Pronunciation (1783), popularly known as Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book. This work was issued by the educator and lexicographer Noah Webster as the first part of his Grammatical Institute of the English Language (1783–85). Although not a true dictionary, the Spelling Book, because of its American origin and emphasis and its simplification of English, became a household reference wordbook throughout the country. Its success led Webster to compile his first American lexicon, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806). His major contribution to lexicography, An American Dictionary of the English Language, begun in 1807 and published in 1828, included typically American usage as distinguished from the British idiom, as well as 12,000 more words and 40,000 more definitions than had ever appeared in any dictionary of the English language. This work was never popular, however. It was soon followed by the Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language (1830) by the American lexicographer Joseph Emerson Worcester (1784–1865). Worcester’s dictionary, technically superior to Webster’s, paved the way for modern collegiate dictionaries. Webster brought out a revised edition of his dictionary in 1840. The first Merriam-Webster dictionary, edited by Chauncey A. Goodrich (1790–1860), was published in 1847; in 1864 another edition with revised etymologies by a German philologist, edited by Noah Porter (1811–92), continued the line. Webster’s International Dictionary appeared in 1890, Webster’s New International Dictionary in 1909. The second edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary, referred to as Webster’s Second, was published in 1934. Meanwhile, Worcester published A Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language in 1846 and A Dictionary of the English Language in 1860, which included illustrations and synonyms.

In 1894 another line of dictionaries began with A Standard Dictionary of the English Language, edited by Isaac Kauffman Funk. Funk introduced a new format for definitions, beginning with the current meaning for the word and ending with the older meanings in reverse historical order, followed by the etymology. Previously, dictionaries usually had traced the historical uses of a word in chronological order; etymology was placed at the beginning of the definition. Both formats are used in current dictionaries. Listing the most accepted meaning first is recommended for children’s dictionaries by teachers who feel that the child needs the reinforcement of recognition when attempting to master the use of a dictionary.

Funk & Wagnalls continued the Standard line with a revised edition—The New Standard Dictionary of the English Language in 1913 and the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language (International Edition) in 1958. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary and Funk & Wagnalls Standard Collegiate Dictionary are designed for household and school use.

With the publication of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language in 1961, American lexicographers increasingly attempted to reflect contemporary usage. Many slang words and technical terms were included, and pronunciation schemes were adjusted to indicate regional speech patterns. Newer comprehensive dictionaries along these lines include The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (3d ed., 1992; 1st electronic on-line version, 1993) and The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: 2d Edition—Unabridged (1987; 1st CD-ROM version, 1993). Specialized dictionaries include the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1937; 8th ed., 1985), originally edited by Eric Partridge (1894–1979), and the comprehensive Dictionary of American Regional English (Vol. 1, 1985; Vol. 2, 1991).

Revisions have continued to be made on most major dictionaries. In addition, abridged versions of most of these are available and are also frequently revised. Shorter dictionaries currently in use include Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition), Webster’s New World Dictionary of the English Language (3d college edition), The Random House College Dictionary (revised edition), and the third college edition of The American Heritage Dictionary. Children’s dictionaries have been produced by several publishers, notable among them the Thorndike-Barnhart series (now the Scott, Foresman series).

See also ENCYCLOPEDIA; ETYMOLOGY,.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections 359. Dictionary, 360. Etymology.