thesaurus English · revision 1078

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /θɪˈsɔːɹəs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|thesaurus|t=treasury, treasure]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|θησαυρός|tr=thēsaurós|t=treasure, treasury, storehouse]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) which Watkins relates to ''tithénai'' “to put”,^(Etymonline) though Beekes takes it as a Pre-Greek loanword.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A treasury or storehouse of knowledge, such as a dictionary or encyclopedia, in Latin titles (1565).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In English the word meant a treasury, as of a temple, from 1823,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a dictionary or encyclopedia full of information from 1840;^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) early compilers had used ''thesaurarie''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The sense of a collection of words arranged by meaning comes from Roget's ''Thesaurus'' (1852),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and in the U.S. it came to mean a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(RHWU) In information science it names a classified list of index terms (1957).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1565 – a storehouse of knowledge, in Latin titles.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1592 – ''thesaurarie''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1823 – a treasury.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1840 – a comprehensive reference book.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1852 – Roget's ''Thesaurus''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1957 – a list of index terms.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A book of [[synonym|alt=synonyms]], often with related words and [[antonym|alt=antonyms]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A book of the specialized vocabulary of a field, or a list of subject headings for indexing.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A dictionary, encyclopedia or other comprehensive reference book.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A storehouse or treasury.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[thesaural]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Merriam-Webster gives ''thesauri'' and ''thesauruses'' as plurals.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}