8. The organisation of a dictionary entry

frequency dictionaries; headword; stylistic levels; a dictionary entry; special marks monolingual (explanatory) dictionary; translating dictionaries;

Strictly speaking dictionary structure is characterized by segmented arrangement of material: any word or group of words is followed by an independent text which is called 1) _________. It can be continuous, unbroken or it may be split into zones of the main and additional information.

Dictionary entry is an equation between left part and the right one. The 2) _________ is given in its initial form (e.g. nouns in Nominative case, infinitives for Russian and English verbs, the 1st person singular for Greek and Latin verbs, etc.). As to 3) ) _________ they contain vocabulary or word lists where word usage frequencies are indicated. In some dictionaries the right part is only a list of words, e.g. synonymous, morphemic dictionaries, dictionary of rhymes. The right part of equation is mostly different in every dictionary.

As to 4) _________ explanation is presented with ideally the same number of themes as in the left part. In 5) _________ the right part contains equivalent, which may be translation, explanation or transcription. Explanations and traditions are made more precisely by examples, marks and illustrations.

A dictionary may include 6) _________ such as short forms, labels, special signs, grammar. Dictionaries can use different types of scripts, tables, illustrations, graphical tools, codes. Many dictionaries indicate the different 7) _________ to which the words belong: colloquial, technical, poetical, rhetorical, archaic, familiar, vulgar or slang, and their expressive colouring: emphatic, ironical, diminutive, facetious. This is important, because a mere definition does not show these data.

9. History of lexicography

History of dictionaries

The earliest dictionaries had a practical aim. They were often bilingual or polyglot word-lists aimed at the traveler and the missionary, or glossaries written to help people understand words which were dialectal, technical or rare.

From as early as the 5th century BC, the Greeks were compiling glossai, explaining difficult words (Homer).

The first vocabulary lists in English were similar: these were 8th century Anglo-Saxon glosses, in which English words were written between the Latin lines.

To count as a dictionary, the words need to be organized in a systematic way – alphabetic principle.

History of lexicography

The history of lexicography goes back over 2,000 years to ancient China, Greece and Rome.

• Arabic dictionaries flourished from around the 8th century onwards.

• There was a flurry of activity in several languages following the invention of printing.

• The Accademia della Crussca produced its dictionary in 1612 (the first to be compiled by a team of people) and prompted several other national dictionary projects.

• Polyglot dictionaries were particularly numerous in the 17th century, with the development of trade and missionary activities around the world.

• The 18th century saw a fresh direction in lexicography, following the discoveries of the comparative philologists and the first major historical dictionaries began to be compiled.

• The 19th century saw many large-scale dictionary projects, produced by teams of compilers and several specialized dictionaries (such as dialectal or technical words). Different kinds of dictionaries began to be produced, notably the Larousse series (from 1856), with its distinctive pictorial and encyclopedic character.

• The 20th century saw the development of lexicography as a scholarly subject, largely under the influence of linguistics, and promoted especially by the growth of academic societies, such as the Dictionary Society of North America (1975), and the European Association for Lexicography (EURALEX, 1983).

Since the 1970s – active development. Prominent have been the dictionaries for special purposes (foreign language teaching, linguistics, medicine, chemistry, etc.).

Spoken vocabulary has begun to find its way into dictionaries.

In the 1980s development of computer lexicography, which is much useful.