• Dictionary vs. Encyclopedia, Then and Now

    Author(s):
    Michael Hancher (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Group(s):
    LLC Victorian and Early-20th-Century English, LSL Linguistics and Literature, TC Philosophy and Literature, TM Book History, Print Cultures, Lexicography
    Subject(s):
    Lexicography
    Item Type:
    Abstract
    Tag(s):
    dictionary, encyclopedia, definition
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/jp1s-9h40
    Abstract:
    The New English Dictionary was originally distinguished from an encyclopedia in reach and function by its proponent Richard Chenevix Trench and its principal editor James A. H. Murray as differing in responsibilities: a dictionary described the meanings of words, an encyclopedia described the nature of things. The distinction had philosophical and lexicographical precedents but proved difficult to honor in practice. Recent disputes within linguistics and philosophy of language contest a similar division without resolving the issue. Structural differences between Wikipedia and Wiktionary might be expected to shed light on the matter, but these new projects perpetuate some old features of print encyclopedias and dictionaries, leaving the distinction blurred. Pragmatic analysis after Grice may identify if not remedy some of the constraints and difficulties faced by definers in print or online. Keywords: dictionaries, encyclopedias, New English Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, Richard Chenevix Trench, James A. H. Murray, definition, necessary and sufficient conditions, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Paul Grice
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1353/dic.2019.0003
    Publisher:
    Dictionary Society of North America
    Pub. Date:
    2019
    Journal:
    Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America
    Volume:
    40
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    113 - 138
    ISSN:
    0197-6745
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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