i6 



NATURE 



[February 4, 1892 



THE CENTURY DICTIONARY. 

 The Century Dictionary ; an EncyclopCBciic Lexicon of 

 the English Laiiguage. Prepared under the super- 

 intendence of William Dwight Whitney, Ph.D., LL.D. 

 In Six Vols. (New York : The Century Co. London : 

 T. Fisher-Unwin.) 



THE preparation of an English dictionary on the 

 scale of the present work is a task of enormous 

 difficulty, and Prof. Whitney may be cordially con- 

 gratulated on the success with which, in association with 

 numerous collaborators, he has accomplished it. In the 

 course of his labours he kept before himself three objects : 

 the construction of a dictionary which might be consulted 

 with advantage for every literary and practical use ; a 

 collection of the technical terms of the various sciences, 

 arts, trades,- and professions, more nearly complete than 

 any that had ever before been attempted ; and the pre- 

 sentation, along with the definitions proper, of such 

 encyclopaedic matter ,'with pictorial illustrations, as should 

 render the work a convenient book of general reference. 



One result of this far-reaching plan is that the number 

 of words included is very much larger than the vocabu- 

 lary of any preceding dictionary, about 200,000 words 

 having been defined. It is impossible, even in such a 

 dictionary as this, to give every word or form of a word 

 that may at some time have been used by an English 

 writer or speaker ; but the editor, as a rule, has very pro- 

 perly preferred to err on the side of " broad inclusiveness " 

 rather than on that of " narrow exclusiveness." He has 

 sought to make the work " a practically complete record 

 of the main body of English speech, from the time of the 

 mingling of the Old French and Anglo-Saxon to the 

 present day, with such of its offshoots as possess histo- 

 rical, etymological, literary, scientific, or practical value." 

 A good deal of space has therefore necessarily been 

 given to obsolete words and forms, the inclusion of which 

 will have the warmest approval of all who desire to 

 promote the study, on scientific principles, of the evolu- 

 tion of the English language. An unusual number of 

 " dialectal " and provincial words have also been 

 admitted, and, as was to be expected in the case of a work 

 compiled in the United States, much attention has been 

 given to "Americanisms," some of which are merely 

 survivals of older or provincial English, while others have 

 been generally adopted on this side of the Atlantic. 

 Another cause of increase has been the admission of an 

 immense number of words which have come into 

 existence during the present century through the progress 

 of knowledge and labour, scientific, artistic, professional, 

 mechanical, and practical. Liberal as the editor has 

 been in this direction, no one who uses the dictionary 

 is likely to think that his liberality has been excessive. 



It is scarcely necessary to say that the utmost care has 

 been taken with the etymological part of the work. In 

 explaining what has been done in this department, the 

 editor does not express himself happily when he speaks 

 of "the making of the English language" as having 

 begun " with the introduction of Roman rule and Roman 

 speech among the barbarous Celts of Britain." If there 

 is any intelligible sense in which we can talk of the 

 English language as having "begun," we must surely 

 trace its beginning to the formation of the Low Dutch 

 NO. I 162, VOL. 45] 



dialect or dialects from which the most vitally essential 

 elements of our present speech are directly descended. 

 The fact, however, which Prof. Whitney desires to 

 emphasize is that the vocabulary of our language has 

 sprung from various sources, and that for a proper under- 

 standing of its characteristic qualities the study of its 

 etymology is on this account of extreme importance. The 

 current accepted form or spelling having been presented, 

 each important word is traced back through earlier forms 

 to its remotest known origin. In revising the proofs of 

 those portions of the work which deal with A and part 

 of B, the authors had the great advantage of being able 

 to consult Dr. J. A. H. Murray's masterly " New English 

 Dictionary on Historical Principles "; and they also 

 express acknowledgments to other writers. The work 

 however, gives ample evidence of independent research ; 

 and Prof. Whitney claims that " it has been possible, by 

 means of the fresh material at the disposal of the 

 etymologist, to clear up in many cases doubts or diffi- 

 culties hitherto resting upon the history of particular 

 words, to decide definitely in favour of one of several 

 suggested etymologies, to discard numerous current 

 errors, and to give for the first time the history of many 

 words of which the etymologies were previously unknown 

 or erroneously stated." 



With regard to orthography, we may note that in 

 cases in which English usage and American usage are 

 not identical (as in words like " labour," " traveller," 

 " theatre ") both forms are given ; a plan with which 

 neither Americans nor Englishmen can reasonably find 

 fault. In the definition of words, the object has been to 

 separate more or less sharply those senses of each word 

 which are really distinct, while over-refinement of 

 analysis has been avoided. As far as possible, the 

 definitions have been arranged historically ; and they are 

 illustrated by a very large collection of extracts represent- 

 ing all branches and periods of English literature. Here 

 we are interested mainly in the definitions of scientific 

 terms ; and, speaking of these generally, we can say that 

 they are remarkable both for accuracy and for concise- 

 ness. Some slips were, of course, inevitable. " Achro- 

 nical " (given as " acronychal ") is thus defined : — " In 

 astron., occurring at sunset : as, the acronychal rising or 

 setting of a star : opposed to cosmical." This is very 

 misleading, the real meaning being, as we recently had 

 occasion to explain, that in achronical rising and setting 

 " we have the star rising when the sun is setting, and 

 setting when the sun is rising." But, upon the whole, it 

 is most creditable that work over so vast a field, and 

 presenting so many difficulties, has been so efficiently 

 done. On this account alone, even if the dictionary had 

 nothing else to recommend it, it would be of great service 

 both to men of science and to the public. 



In the encyclopaedic portion of the work, the " Century 

 Dictionary " cannot, of course, be compared with any of 

 the great Encyclopaedias. Still, skilful management has 

 enabled the editor to bring together an immense amount 

 of information which will often suffice for the purposes for 

 which it is sure to be looked up. The only important 

 drawback to the plan on which this information has been 

 arranged is that it involves too many cross-references. 

 The illustrations are very numerous, and it is worth 

 noting that old cuts have been used only when better 



