Dictionaries and their types

1. FORMATION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEXICOGRAPHY
A dictionary is a collection of words organized in a certain way, provided with comments that describe the features of their structure and / or functioning.
Dictionaries in the form to which we are accustomed are of a relatively late origin. They appeared in the period following the invention and spread of printing in Europe in the middle of the 15th century. However, the predecessors of modern dictionaries appeared in ancient times. When studying manuscripts written in other languages, mostly ancient ones, people came across new and unusual words, especially often in the writings of the Greek and Latin classics. A scientist or just a scribe, having determined the meaning of an unfamiliar word, wrote a translation of this word in his native language between the lines or, most often, in the margins of the manuscript. Such a litter was called a gloss (from the Greek glossa "language, word").
Some experts believe that lexicography is not just a technique, not just a practical activity in compiling dictionaries, and not even an art, but an independent scientific discipline that has its own subject of study, its scientific and methodological principles, its own theoretical problems, its place among others. language sciences.
For the first time, this point of view on lexicography was clearly expressed by the famous Soviet linguist Academician L.V. Shcherba. In the preface to the Russian-French Dictionary (1936), he wrote: “I consider it extremely wrong that our qualified linguists have a disdainful attitude towards dictionary work, thanks to which almost none of them have ever done it (in the old days it was done for pennies by random amateurs , who had absolutely no special training) and thanks to which she received such an absurd name "compilation" of dictionaries. Indeed, our linguists, and even more so our "compilers" of dictionaries overlooked that this work should have a scientific character and in no way consist in a mechanical comparison of some ready-made elements".
Developing the provisions put forward in 1936, L.V. Shcherba published an article in 1940 (which later became widely known abroad), in which he began to develop the main theoretical questions of lexicography using a large amount of factual material. The researcher planned to write several articles (etudes, as he called them) on the general theory of lexicography, in which he intended to discuss such important problems as the main types of dictionaries, the nature of the word, the meaning and use of the word, the construction of a dictionary entry in connection with semantic, grammatical and stylistic analysis of the word, etc. However, premature death prevented the implementation of this plan. L.V. Shcherba wrote only the first sketch, "Basic Types of Dictionaries", which began with the following well-known now statement: "One of the first questions of lexicography is, of course, the question of different types of dictionaries. It is based on a number of theoretical oppositions, which need to be opened." Since then, the thesis that lexicography is not only the practice of compiling dictionaries, but also a theoretical scientific discipline, has firmly become one of the starting points of the Russian lexicographic school.
What is science in general? What are its most important features? The main and most important features of science, any scientific discipline are the following:
the presence of a knowledge system;
The need for their objective research.
These two essential features are interconnected, closely intertwined, because only then can a system of knowledge adequate to reality be built when this reality is objectively studied. As applied to lexicography, it looks like this.
If we accept the thesis that lexicography is an art, then the doors open to a subjective understanding of the tasks and subject of lexicography, techniques and methods of its study, and a subjective solution of its problems. It is unlikely that such an approach will be fruitful and certainly not scientifically objective. If we accept the thesis that lexicography is just a technique for compiling dictionaries, a kind of purely practical activity, then we will have to transfer to other sciences (lexicology, semantics, stylistics, etymology, etc.) the solution of all theoretical issues, and lexicography will have to use only ready-made solutions of these sciences. It is unlikely that this will be fruitful, because other sciences of the language are not familiar enough with the state of affairs in lexicography. Consequently, they will solve the problems of lexicography from their own positions, from their own points of view, and therefore it will be detrimental to lexicography. Thus, the thesis that lexicography is a science is the only correct and most fruitful one. From this it follows that lexicography as a science has its own subject of study, its own special research methods, its structure, its place among other linguistic disciplines.
Like any science, lexicography has two sides: scientific-theoretical and practical-applied. The first one (theoretical lexicography) poses general theoretical problems and works on their solution. The second (practical lexicography) deals directly with the compilation of dictionaries of various types based on theoretical solutions to the main problems. Of course, the division of lexicography into two parts is highly arbitrary. These two aspects of lexicography always go together, they are interconnected: a theoretical lexicographer cannot engage in naked theorizing without working on specific material, without participating in some kind of practical lexicographic work; and, conversely, no practical lexicographer can immerse himself only in his purely empirical work, without knowing the latest problems of lexicography as a science. Nevertheless, the fundamental distinction between the two sides of lexicography is extremely important.
Being part of the science of language, lexicography is closely related to such linguistic disciplines as lexicology, semantics, stylistics, etymology, phonology, etc. With these disciplines, lexicography has a common problem. Sometimes she uses the results of their research, and often ahead of them in solving some problems. Thus, gradually, step by step, lexicography takes shape as an independent linguistic discipline, becoming equal among other linguistic sciences.
Gradually, with the ubiquity of the Latin language in the medieval European civilization, due to the need to read scientific, church and other books in this language, the compilers of ancient glossaries faced a more responsible task. It became necessary not only to explain certain difficult Latin words in manuscripts, but to give English translations to as many Latin words as possible. Certain lexicographic techniques developed in compiling glossaries prepared the next stage in the development of vocabulary in England - the compilation of more deeply thought out and skillfully executed Latin-English and Anglo-Latin glossaries.
The main features of the first lexicographic publications compared to glossaries were, firstly, complete independence, since when compiling a dictionary, the lexicographer made a selection from many texts and focused on the word as a unit of language, not speech. Second, the pairs of equivalents are organized alphabetically.
In the middle of the XV century appears " Medulla Gramatice "- the first Latin-English dictionary, which later became the source for" Ortus Vocabulorum ". In the history of English lexicography" Ortus Vocabulorum is famous for being the first printed dictionary.
A big event is the publication in 1440 of the dictionary " Promptorium Parvulorum "-" Pantry (of words) for children. "It is actually a prototype of modern bilingual dictionaries. It already notes the polysemy of words, which distinguishes this dictionary from previous glossaries.
As noted by V.G. So, the fact of the existence of early educational lexicography is confirmed by the fact that even the names of many dictionaries contain an indication of their educational orientation, intended for students. French-Latin dictionaries published in France were called " Commentarius puerorum ""Explanations for youth", " Dictionariolum puerorum "" A small dictionary for youth", " Seminarium et planetarium fructiferarum "A hotbed (of knowledge) for those who can bear fruit."
During the XV-XVI centuries. translated (bilingual and multilingual) dictionaries were published, which were initially close to bilingual glossaries. They were widely used in schools as reference books on the vocabulary of English and Latin.
The next stage in the development of English lexicography is characterized by the fact that the Latin language - as the language of international communication in Western Europe - begins to lose its influence. Translation dictionaries of new Western European languages appear. The Renaissance, the intensive growth of trade, economic and cultural ties between countries - all this required the creation of translation dictionaries of new European languages.
Palsgrave 's Anglo-French Dictionary , published in 1530, was one of the first such dictionaries. It is an appendix to the French textbook, which indicates its educational orientation.
Then published series others dictionaries : J. Baret " Alvearic or Triple Dictionary, English, Latin, French" (1573), R. Percyvall "Bibliotheca Hispanica " (1591), C Hollyband "A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues" (1593), J. Florio "Dictionary in Italian and English or World of Words" (1598), R. Cotgrave "A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues" ( 1611 ) and others _
Thus, in the XVI century. The English lexicographic tradition of compiling bilingual and multilingual dictionaries was aimed at helping the reader master a foreign language.
By the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII centuries. an urgent need began to be felt in explaining some part of the English words themselves, the so-called difficult words ( hard words ). The difficult words of that time are , as L.P. emphasizes. Stupin, firstly, numerous borrowings from Latin and Greek into English, especially into written language; secondly, obsolete Anglo-Saxon words, the use of which became extremely fashionable for writers, poets and scientists of that time; and, thirdly, numerous borrowings from new Western European languages.
The average reader, who did not have sufficient education, could not cope with such a huge flow of borrowings without the help of a special reference book.
Dictionaries of difficult words began to appear. A distinctive feature of such dictionaries was that not all were interpreted there, but only difficult, incomprehensible words for the average reader. Simple everyday words, as a rule, were not included in these reference books. For the first time, neologisms began to be included in the dictionaries of difficult words. In the future, the development of dictionaries of new words went along the line of accumulating the language experience of national lexicography, which always reflected the latest achievements of linguistic science.
Later, by combining glosses into one list, a list of words was created with their translation into another language, called a glossary.

1.1 PERIOD OF “GLOSSARIZATION”

In the history of the development of English lexicography, several periods can be conditionally distinguished. The first period is " glossarization ". In this period, firstly, only separate, arbitrarily chosen words were described. Secondly, the interpretation of the meanings of these words was superficial and unscientific. Thirdly, the dictionaries lacked information about the grammatical and phonetic characteristics of lexical units, and examples illustrating the use of the word in the text were not given.
the Promptuarium dictionary , created in 1440 by the monk from Norfolk Geoffrey the Grammar . Parvulorum , which included translations of over 10,000 English words into Latin. In 1499 this dictionary was printed.
Ortus dictionary remains unknown Vocabulorum "The Garden of Words", published in London in 1500 and containing twice as many words as the Promptuarium . A feature that distinguishes this dictionary from earlier ones is that, although its entries consist of Latin words and their brief English translations, an English interpretation is occasionally added to them. Ortus Vocabulorum is considered to be the first Latin-English dictionary printed in England.

1.2 “DICTIONARY OF DIFFICULT WORDS”

The second period in the history of English lexicography can be defined as the period of "difficult word dictionaries". A distinctive trend of this period is the desire of the compilers of dictionaries to include in their works only those lexical units that they considered difficult to understand, and either ignore everyday vocabulary or give too short definitions that do not differ from each other. The dictionaries of this period include:
A Table Alphabetical (" List alphabetical ")
Roberta Codry , An English Expositor ("The English Expositor")
John Ballocar , Henry Cockram 's English Dictionarie ,
The New World of English Words by Edward Philips and others.
In 1623 _ _ came out dictionary Henry Cockeram (Henry Cockeram ) under titled The English Dictionary or a New Interpreter of hard English words. It is noteworthy that this was the first explanatory dictionary of the English language, in the name of which the word dictionary was used . The Cockram dictionary is divided into three parts. In the first part, difficult, in the opinion of the author, new words are given and an interpretation of their meanings is given. In the second part of the dictionary, which is half the volume of the entire work, are placed, in the terminology of the compiler, vulgar words (common words). The third part is not linguistic, but rather encyclopedic. Here are the names of the heroes of myths, gods, the names of animals, birds, herbs, etc.
Among the dictionaries of "difficult words" relating to this period, we can mention the dictionary Glossographia , published in 1656. Its author was Thomas Blount (Thomas Blount ). The disadvantages of his work include an even greater number of Latin words than those of his predecessors and definitions, most of which he borrowed from the Dictionarium dictionaries. linguae latinae et Anglicanae (1632) and Dictionarium Etymologicum (1633). Although Blount made extensive use of other people's results, he was willing to admit it, saying, "I did little with my own pen." But he was the first English lexicographer to systematically indicate the etymologies of the words included in his dictionary, despite the fact that many of the etymologies were inaccurate.
Less honest about plagiarism was Edward Phillips , compiler of The New World of English Words , published in 1658. Phillips was a nephew and student of the great English poet John Milton, and some of his definitions show Milton's influence. Most of the interpretations were borrowed from other lexicographers (mainly Blount ). Those definitions that he made himself were notable for their inaccuracy.
1.3 “PRE-SCIENTIFIC OR PRESCRIPTIVE” PERIOD
The third period in the history of English lexicography can be characterized as "pre-scientific or prescriptive" - prescriptive - the lexicographer set the norm, "corrected", guided by the etymology of the word, analogy, rationalism. The main trend of this stage was the desire of compilers of dictionaries to establish a certain standard in the spelling, pronunciation and use of words, therefore, almost all dictionaries related to this stage should be defined as normative. Lexicographers tried to give more complete information about the word. The definitions of words had a more detailed structure than the definitions of the dictionaries of the previous period. The use of words in speech was illustrated by quotations from literature. The etymology of words was indicated. The dictionaries of this period include:
A Dictionary of English Language by Samuel Johnson,
An American Dictionary of English Language Nov Webster And others _
A dictionary that takes into account the peculiarities of the semantics and word-formation system of modern English is Nathaniel Bailey's dictionary . Bailey ) – An Universal Etymological Dictionary "Universal Etymological Dictionary". It was published in 1721 and contained about 40 thousand words with brief interpretations. The advantages of this dictionary compared to previous dictionaries was that he divided words into syllables and tried to indicate the correct pronunciation. The main drawback of Bailey's dictionary was the low level of development of dictionary definitions.

The following advantages of this dictionary can be noted:

It was the most complete dictionary of literary English of that period.
Johnson is the first English lexicographer who gave shades of the meaning of words, dividing the meanings into basic, figurative and metaphorical. He also singled out the main meaning by separating it from secondary meanings. All values were numbered, which was an innovative step for that time.
The author illustrates each meaning of the word with quotations from works (from the Bible to Shakespeare).
In the dictionary, one can find a variety of stylistic marks with which he characterizes words. In some cases , words also have a more detailed stylistic definition.
Definitions were generally complete and clear.
Johnson's dictionary contains a lot of etymological information, mainly indicating whether the word is borrowed or native . If the etymology of the word is unknown, then the author writes about his assumptions.
The Dictionary of the English Language has And certain shortcomings .
The most characteristic feature of Johnson's dictionary is the orientation towards the literary and book layer of the English vocabulary.
There are factual errors in the dictionary, due to the fact that the erudition of one person, even such an educated person as Dr. Johnson, could not cover all areas of knowledge.
Some of his definitions are difficult to understand.
In many of Johnson's definitions one can detect his own preferences or biases.
The corpus of examples that served as material for compiling the dictionary and illustrating the meanings of words was limited mainly to literary texts and philosophical or political treatises, relating mainly to only one period of 1580-1660.
Johnson's dictionary practically ignored the words that appeared in America, even those that were widely used in the language.
1.4 MODERN PERIOD
The modern period in the development of English lexicography can be called "scientific or historical", as it is based on the following concepts:
1) compilation of dictionaries based on the historical principle;
2) replacing the prescriptive or normative principle of compiling dictionaries with a relatively systematic descriptive approach;
3) description of vocabulary as a system.

The first dictionary compiled on a scientific basis was Roger's thesaurus, but the pearl of English lexicography that most fully embodied these concepts is The Oxford English Dictionary , the largest lexicographic project of the 19th and 20th centuries. Work on it began, under the auspices of the Royal Philological Society, in 1857, the first volume appeared in 1888, and the last in 1933. The editor of the dictionary is Sir James Murray . Roger's thesaurus belongs to a special group of dictionaries - ideological - graphic. In dictionaries - thesauri, vocabulary is organized according to the thematic principle. Roger began his work by dividing the conceptual field of the English language into four large classes: abstract relations, space, matter and spirit (mind, will, feelings). These classes are further divided into a number of genera, which, in turn, break up into a certain number of species. Each species includes numbered groups. These groups (there are 1,000 of them in total) are denoted by words with a sufficiently broad semantics, which makes it possible to unite under them a whole series of words similar in meaning.

However, soon after the dictionary was published, it became clear that it was very difficult to use. The practice required a reasonable synthesis of the ideographic and alphabetical arrangement of words. Therefore, Roger attached an alphabetical index to the dictionary, providing each word with information about its place in the ideographic classification. Roger's thesaurus should be recognized as an outstanding phenomenon in world lexicography. Its main advantage lies in the fact that it was the first scientifically substantiated attempt to create some layout of a logically ordered vocabulary of the language.
In 1837 Charles Richardson 's A New Dictionary was published in England. of the English Language, which embodied a new, "historical" approach to compiling dictionaries. According to Richardson, the main task of lexicography is to trace back the development of a word and find its original meaning. Thus, Richardson's dictionary is to some extent a prototype of etymological dictionaries.
The prerequisite for the creation of a fundamentally new dictionary of the English language was the establishment in 1842 of the Philological Society, whose members thought about the problem of organizing work to create a complete dictionary of the English language. In 1857, an initiative group of members of this society (R. Trench , G. Coleridge , F. Farnival ) prepared a report made at a meeting of the Philological Society by Richard Trench . A year later, the society passed a resolution to create "A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles" (A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles ).
In 1876, James Murray began to collaborate on this dictionary . Under his leadership, in 1878, editing of the collected materials began. In 1884, the first part was printed, and only in 1928, already under the direction of Onions and Craig ( Onions and Craige ) the entire edition has been completed. A total of 12 volumes were released , and the dictionary was called A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles , but later became known as the Oxford English Dictionary .
The dictionary aims to give all the words of the English language from 1150 until recently, to describe the changes in the meanings and forms of these words, to the extent possible, to give a detailed etymology, to indicate the correct pronunciation of words and to illustrate all this with examples in the form of quotations from texts of a different nature. The main goal of the editors of the Oxford Dictionary was to trace the history of each word included in the dictionary from its appearance in the language to the present day. This goal is achieved in the dictionary with the help of citations-illustrations with the exact date of the source of the quotation.
For each century of the development of this word, a quotation is given. The Oxford English Dictionary documents when and in what meaning a given lexical unit became part of the English language, in what text it was first registered. If the word has fallen into disuse, it is noted when this happened or how the system of its meanings has changed over the centuries. The dictionary not only reflects the literary norms of the English language at different stages of its development, but also tries to reflect the entire vocabulary of the language. Therefore, here you can find dialectisms, and jargon, and vulgarisms, and neologisms, etc. The order of information about the words given in this dictionary is simple and logical.