dictionary

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/; /ˈdɪk.ʃə.nə.ɹi/, /ˈdɪk.ʃən.ɹi/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium (“collection of words and phrases”) (manual) or dictiōnārius (book),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin dictiō, a saying, expression, in Late Latin a word (see diction),^[2][3][6] from dīcere, to say, from Proto-Indo-European *deik-, to show, pronounce solemnly.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A book listing and explaining the words of a language: 1526.^[2][7][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The Medieval Latin word is said to have been first used by John of Garland as the title of a Latin vocabulary about 1220.^[3] Probably the first use in the title of an English book was Sir Thomas Elyot's Latin Dictionary (1538).^[3] A reference book on any subject, as a dictionary of music, is from 1631,^[7] and figuratively a person regarded as a store of knowledge from 1774.^[7] Dictionarist, a compiler of a dictionary, is from the 1610s.^[3] To have swallowed the dictionary, to use long words, is from 1934,^[7] and a list of words used by a word-processing program from 1957.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – Dictionarius, John of Garland.^[3]
• 1526 – a dictionary.^[2]
• 1538 – Elyot's Latin Dictionary.^[3]
• 1631 – a reference book on a subject.^[7]
• 1774 – a person as a store of knowledge.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A reference book or resource listing the words of a language alphabetically, with their meanings and often pronunciation and etymology.
2. A book giving the words of one language with equivalents in another.
3. A reference book on the terms of a particular subject.
4. A list of words stored for use by a computer program, as a spelling checker.

Related words

• diction
• dictum
• lexicon
• glossary
• thesaurus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster