Roget’s thesaurus
(1779–1869)
The communication of our thoughts by means of language, whether spoken or written, constitutes a peculiar art, which cannot be acquired in any perfection but by long-continued practice. Peter M. Roget |
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Roget's Thesaurus is a widely-used English thesaurus, created by Dr. Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) in 1805 and released to the public on 29 April 1852. The original edition had 15,000 words, and each new edition has been larger. The name "Roget" is trademarked in parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom.[2] By itself, it is not protected in the United States of America, where use of the name "Roget" in the title of a thesaurus does not necessarily indicate any relationship to Dr. Roget; it has come to be seen as a generic thesaurus name[3], like "Webster" for dictionaries.
Dr. Roget described his thesaurus in the foreword to the first edition:
It is now nearly fifty years since I first projected a system of verbal classification similar to that on which the present work is founded. Conceiving that such a compilation might help to supply my own deficiencies, I had, in the year 1805, completed a classed catalogue of words on a small scale, but on the same principle, and nearly in the same form, as the Thesaurus now published.
Roget's Thesaurus is composed of six primary classes.
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Each class is composed of multiple divisions and then sections. This may be conceptualized as a tree containing over a thousand branches for individual "meaning clusters" or semantically linked words. These words are not exactly synonyms, but can be viewed as colours or connotations of a meaning or as a spectrum of a concept. One of the most general words is chosen to typify the spectrum as its headword, which labels the whole group.
Roget's schema of classes and their subdivisions is based on the philosophical work of Leibniz (see Leibniz — Symbolic thought), itself following a long tradition of epistemological work starting with Aristotle. Some of Aristotle's Categories are included in Roget's first class "abstract relations".
Main Entry: |
Love Part of Speech: noun |
Definition: |
adoration; very strong liking |
Synonyms: |
adulation, affection, allegiance, amity, amorousness, amour, appreciation, ardency, ardor, attachment, case*, cherishing, crush, delight, devotedness, devotion, emotion, enchantment, enjoyment, fervor, fidelity, flame, fondness, friendship, hankering, idolatry, inclination, infatuation, involvement, like, lust, mad for, partiality, passion, piety, rapture, regard, relish, respect, sentiment, soft spot, taste, tenderness, weakness, worship, yearning, zeal |
Antonyms: |
dislike, hate, hatred |
* = informal/non-formal usage
Main Entry: |
love Part of Speech:noun |
Definition: |
person who is loved by another |
Synonyms: |
Juliet, Romeo, admirer, angel, beau, beloved, boyfriend, courter, darling, dear, dear one, dearest, flame, girlfriend, honey, inamorata, inamorato, loved one, lover, paramour, passion, spark, suitor, swain, sweet, sweetheart, truelove, valentine |
Part of Speech: |
verb |
Definition: |
adore, like very much |
Synonyms: |
admire, adulate, be attached to, be captivated by, be crazy about, be enamored of, be enchanted by, be fascinated with, be fond of, be in love with, canonize, care for, cherish, choose, deify, delight in, dote on, esteem, exalt, fall for, fancy, glorify, go for, gone on, have affection for, have it bad, hold dear, hold high, idolize, long for, lose one's heart to, prefer, prize, put on pedestal, think the world of, thrive with, treasure, venerate, wild for, worship |
Antonyms: |
dislike, hate, scorn |
PETER MARK ROGET died on 12 September 1869, Nevertheless, he is more widely known today than he ever was in his heyday. His name has endured a full century, and may indeed endure for ever, primarily because of the great popularity, extraordinary sale, and unforgettable title of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. This astonishing collection of interchangeable parts of speech, ‘classified and arranged … so as to facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition’, was first published in 1852, long after Roget had retired from medical practice and shortly after he had given up his post as secretary of the Royal Society. He was already 73 years old, but since he could not slacken his habitual pace, he continued to work unceasingly on revision after revision until there were twenty-eight revisions when he died seventeen years later. After his death, his son, John Lewis Roget, edited the Thesaurus until 1908; a grandson, Samuel Romilly Roget, then took over the editorship and retained control over the legacy until 1936.
Peter Mark Roget FRS (pronounced /roʊˈʒeɪ/; 18 January 1779 – 12 September 1869) was a British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer. He is best known for publishing, in 1852, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (Roget's Thesaurus), a classified collection of related words.
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