A dictionary is a catalog of words from a language or science, generally arranged alphabetically, which provides their meaning, etymology, spelling and, in the case of certain languages, establishes their pronunciation and syllabic separation. Usually it was presented only in book form, today it can be found in digital form on CD-ROM, DVD, on-line, etc. The earliest known glossaries belonged to the Assyrian king Assurbanipal, and were found in Nineveh.
What is a dictionary
Table of Contents
In its basic meaning, the glossary is considered as a statement that records the entire inventory of words in a language, with the purpose of imparting meaning, making known similar endings, and expressing or justifying its various uses and functions. In the same way, it is a general precept that the glossaries are organized alphabetically to cover infinities of subjects such as, for example, history, language, art, literature, philosophy, religion, science, social sciences, among others.
Dictionary history
The oldest glorsary comes from 600 BC and is expressed in the Akkadian language spoken in Mesopotamia by Assyrians and Babylonians. During that period, bilinguals were entrusted to teams of translators known as local and foreign scholars, who produced lists of terms with their respective equivalents, written on clay tablets arranged in columns. Many of these tablets are from the Ashurbanipal library, dating from 668 BC in Nineveh and are the source of most of the knowledge that is acquired on the subject.
Dictionary types
There are different types of glossaries and, depending on the content they develop, they can become dictionaries of language, languages, synonyms and antonyms, etymological, rhyming, encyclopedic and even specialized. However, it is extremely important that they be discussed in a more extensive way in order to fully understand everything they represent, so that the following information is obtained:
Language dictionary
It is defined as the dictionary that explains all the existing words. On this side of the world, the most widely used are those of Spanish-English, in which the meaning of a word or name is conceptualized or explained and in the case of Latin America, the language glossary that is used and that is accept is the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).
Language Dictionary
It collects the most common endings of the different dialects, allowing to change from the mother tongue to the target language. The wordreference can function as a French Spanish glossary and even as an English Spanish glossary and it can also have other languages such as Italian, Chinese, German and Arabic.
Dictionary of synonyms and antonyms
It allows the association of various terms according to their meaning and is very useful when writing as it facilitates the wide use of linguistic resources. The most used are the, OpenThesaurus, Synonymes and synonyms, the latter is known as a dictionary of use of Spanish.
Etymological dictionary
It is known as the book that explains the origin of words, being the main product of the study of historical linguistics. Some examples of these are the "Spanish and Hispanic critical etymological dictionary" by José Antonio Pascual and the "Brief etymological dictionary of the Spanish language" by Joan Coromines.
Rhyme Dictionary
This glossary helps artists to write lyrics and poems and tries to find words that can rhyme with the set of expressions that can be used with the search word. The rhyme encyclopedia coordinate the words according to the number of syllables to facilitate the elaboration of a constant metric in poems, an example of these is the Rimador Net.
Encyclopedic dictionary
He has multiple knowledge of human life in a specific and determined way, grouping them by letters and various categories. A clear example of this is the "Spanish-American encyclopedic dictionary of literature, science and arts" by Editorial Montaner y Simon, published in Barcelona between 1887 and 1899.
Ideological dictionary
It is a Spanish dictionary by Julio Casares, published in 1982 in which a systematic inventory of the Hispanic lexicon was carried out, whose main objective was to supply, indicate, suggest and help in the search for words that adequately represent the ideas that people want transmit. This glossary in Spanish has more than 80,000 terms and is concerned with the transformation of thought into language, focusing mainly on the meaning of words and expressions in that language.
Specialized dictionaries
It brings together words related to a certain science or any activity and is characterized by using the endings of a specific area, for example, a legal dictionary, a biblical dictionary, a dictionary of dreams or those that have other fields of knowledge such as science, sociology, history, psychology, among others.
Top Online Dictionaries
To work comfortably with the language, there is the online one, which offers several advantages such as free Internet access without having to take up so much space on the shelves. For this reason, the best online dictionaries will be presented together with their techniques to facilitate their use.
- That of the Royal Spanish Academy: its origin took place in Madrid around the year 1713 by Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco y Zúñiga. To search for a term online, you must place the cursor in the box found in the link, then type the word to be investigated and finally press enter to obtain a possible result.
- Goodrae: as the name implies, it has a similarity to the previous glossary but it is an improved version. To navigate in this link, you only have to search for the word to be investigated and the text will immediately appear with its respective definition and the entries in which it appears will also appear.
Top 5 Best Selling Dictionaries on Amazon
Glossaries are known as those works in which infinities of terms are consulted that are capable of providing the definition, etymology, spelling, pronunciation, hyphenation and the grammatical form of certain words. In this way, a comparative list of the 5 most demanded dictionaries on Amazon will be presented.
- Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition: Its original language is English, has 1,664 pages and presents more than 225,000 definitions and more than 42,000 usage examples to clarify the meaning of words. In addition, more than 60 million copies of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary have been sold since its initial publication in 1898.
- Larousse dictionary of synonyms, antonyms, and related ideas: it responds to current communication needs and is considered a quick reference work that has approximately 36,000 entries and meanings, 110,000 synonyms and 18,000 antonyms, in addition to various contextual words and phrases for the specification of its uses.
- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary - Considered as a Biblical reference resource for students, teachers, pastors, academic courses, and libraries. Each article is structured to start with a concise definition followed by a full development of the topic and features some 700 full-color photos, plus maps, reconstructions and charts that enrich the experience of those who use it.
- Dictionary of legal terms English Spanish: facilitates the capture of diverse meanings and offers a great variety of synonyms, antonyms and reciprocal references that indicate their origin. This book is up-to-date with legal terms not found in other works and has improved the wording of some explanations.
- Brief etymological glossary of the Spanish language: it is a more reduced and updated version that constitutes an attractive contribution to the study of romanistics. It is intended for anyone so that it can be widely disseminated among speakers of the Spanish language who are not yet fully specialized in the subject.
