250 



DICTIONARIES, NEW. 



familiar use in English books and conversation. 

 Several particulars are noticeable in the articles. 

 A systematic attempt is made for the first time 

 to give the colloquial as well as the formal pro- 

 nunciation of each familiar word. The deriva- 

 tion of each word and its relation to other words 

 in kindred languages are more thoroughly given, 

 by Prof. Whitney's special collaborator in this 

 department, Dr. C. P. G. Scott, than in any other 

 general dictionary. The affixes and suffixesJiave 

 their full articles. The laws of phonetic change 

 are kept in mind throughout, and the whole 

 etymology is freshly done on the basis of the 

 latest authorities. 



A very large number of new definitions of 

 common words have been added, thousands of 

 non - technical words and familiar meanings, 

 which one is surprised to find have not been in 

 formei dictionaries. Then there are definitions 

 of an immense number of scientific terms, the 

 work of eminent specialists in science and art, 

 and given with scientific accuracy. The writers 

 do not, however, confine themselves to explica- 

 tion of the words, but deal with the objects 

 named, after the manner of a cyclopaedia, de- 

 scribing and illustrating by diagrams and pict- 

 ures. There are 7,500 illustrations, many of 

 them beautiful pictures. The work, is in every 

 way a splendid specimen of the printer's art. 

 About 300,000 illustrative quotations are given. 

 American writers are represented with greater 

 fullness than in any similar work. 



The philological attitude of Prof. Whitney 

 and his collaborators is further shown in the 

 declaration of principles adopted in the orthog- 

 raphy. The preface says : " The essentially pho- 

 netic rule of spelling, that of two or more forms 

 which have equal authority, or are equally sup- 

 ported by usage, the one is to be preferred which 

 is simplest or nearest the phonetic standard, has 

 been adopted." 



And at the end of the work is printed a " List 

 of Amended Spellings recommended by the 

 Philological Society of London and the Ameri- 

 can Philological Association." The list occu- 

 pies seven pages. ' ! The corrections are in the 

 interest of etymological and historical truth, 

 and are to be confined to words which the 

 changes do not much disguise from the general 

 reader." The list is printed in "The Century 

 Dictionary," Prof. Whitney says, as a record of 

 an important movement which promises to be 

 of special interest to lexicographers in the near 

 future. ' It may be confidently predicted that 

 future English dictionaries will be able to rec- 

 ognize to the full, as this dictionary has been 

 able to recognize in part, the right of the Eng- 

 lish vocabulary to be rightly spelled." 



The first volume of " The Encyclopaedic Dic- 

 tionary '' bears the date of 1888, and it is now 

 complete. It is styled " A new and original 

 work of reference to all the words in the English 

 language, with a full account of their origin, 

 meaning, pronunciation, and use, with numer- 

 ous illustrations." The general plan is like that 

 of " The Century," but it is not pitched so high. 

 It is a less costly book every way. The pronun- 

 ciation is simple, not entering into niceties of 

 unaccented syllables or colloquial use. The ety- 

 mology in the early parts is much like the old 

 " Webster," in the later like " Skeat " abridged. 



The definitions are concise, the illustrations 

 comparatively inexpensive, the encyclopaedic 

 matter easy. The page is smaller than that of 

 "The Century" or "Murray," making a more 

 convenient book to handle. The columns are 

 comparatively narrow, and the matter printed in 

 brief paragraphs, set up so as to be easily dis- 

 tinguished. The whole is admirable for con- 

 venient popular use. 



A new edition of " Webster's Dictionary " also 

 appeared in 1890. It is called " The Interna- 

 tional." The publishers recognized that the 

 progress of linguistic science demanded a new 

 working over of the old unabridged " Webster," 

 which dated from 1864, and they have had a 

 large corps of workers occupied upon it for 

 more than ten years, embodying the amplifica- 

 tion and enrichment of the language during 

 another generation, under the supervision of 

 Noah Porter, D. D., LL. D., ex-President of 

 Yale College. The new vocabulary has 1,681 

 pages for the 1,538 of the old one, and the page 

 is somewhat larger. The primary object of the 

 revision has been the incorporation of the new 

 words and meanings that have come into use. 

 The plan has included whatever recasting of the 

 earlier matter was required by the advance of 

 philology, as, for instance, in the supervision and 

 readjustment of the etymology, by Prof. Edward 

 S. Sheldon, of Harvard. Occasion has also been 

 taken for a comprehensive and minute scrutiny 

 and rectification of the entire work. The press- 

 ure of new material of vaiue and the limitation 

 of a one-volume dictionary have enforced both 

 condensation and selection and forbidden any 

 attempt merely to swell the list of words. Upon 

 a general survey of the new " Webster" in com- 

 parison with the old one, the reader notices the 

 respelling of the vocabulary words for pronun- 

 ciation, the careful indication of the sounds of 

 the unaccented syllables by a freer use of ob- 

 scure sounds, and the employment of abridgment 

 in printing, sometimes to an inconvenient degree. 

 A closer examination shows many and important 

 additions and changes in every column. The 

 new material is most conspicuous in the depart- 

 ments of science and technology. These have 

 been defined and illustrated by eminent scientists 

 and by the aid of freely provided and admirably 

 drawn pictorial illustrations. The brief history 

 of the language by Prof. Had ley has been re- 

 vised by Prof. Kittredge, of Harvard. The in- 

 troductory discussion of pronunciation has been 

 replaced by a new and more acute treatise by 

 Prof. Samuel Porter, stated in the language of 

 Mr. Bell's system of phonetics, so far as that 

 applies. The " Dictionary of Noted Names of 

 Fiction " in the appendix has been much en- 

 larged and improved by Prof. Henry A. Beers, 

 of Yale. Some new grammarian ought to have 

 taken in hand the "Pronouncing Vocabulary of 

 English Christian Names, with their Derivation, 

 Signification, etc." The other material of the 

 appendix is as good as ever. "As a comprehen- 

 sive popular dictionary," the publishers have 

 reason to say, " we believe that Webster's Inter- 

 national ' is worthy to retain that pre-eminence 

 which has long been held by ' Webster's Un- 

 abridged.' " 



The publishers of " Worcester's Dictionary " 

 are preparing a new edition of that favorite 



