encyclopedia English · revision 897

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdi.ə/ ''(UK)''; /ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidi.ə/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|encyclopaedia|t=general course of instruction]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) thought to be a false reading of Greek ''enkúklios paideía'' “general education”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) literally “training in a circle”, the circle of arts and sciences of a liberal education,^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from ''enkúklios'' “circular, general” and ''paideía'' “education”, from ''paîs'' “child”.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A general course of instruction (1531).^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Copyists of Latin manuscripts took the Greek phrase as a single word, which became Modern Latin ''encyclopaedia'' (c. 1500–08).^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) In Modern Latin it was used as the title of a reference work covering all knowledge,^(AHD) and the modern sense, a reference work with articles on all branches of knowledge, appeared in English about 1630–44.^(Barnhart 1995)^(AHD)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) It was often applied to the great French ''Encyclopédie'' of Diderot and d'Alembert (1751–65).^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) ''Encyclopedic'' dates from 1824.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1508 – Modern Latin ''encyclopaedia''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1531 – a general course of instruction.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1630–44 – a comprehensive reference work.^(Barnhart 1995)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1824 – ''encyclopedic''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A comprehensive reference work with articles, usually in alphabetical order, on all branches of knowledge or on many aspects of one subject.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[encyclopedic]]

+ * [[encyclopedist]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pedo-]]

+ * [[encyclical]]

+ * [[cycle]]

+ * [[pedagogy]]

+ * [[pediatric]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Wiktionary notes that ''encyclopedia'' is the standard American spelling and also very common in Britain, while Oxford spelling prefers ''encyclopaedia''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}