Old Dictionary Appreciation #1
My
affinity for old dictionaries should be no surprise to Wordmonger followers. This
appreciation has been fueled by experience with watered-down newer
dictionaries, or – sadder still – “student dictionaries” that may as well have
had the marrow sucked out of their bones.
I
can find no Old Dictionary Appreciation Day, Week, or Month, so I’ve decided to
celebrate old dictionaries whenever the spirit moves me. This week is one such
week.
It
doesn’t take dusty, leather-bound dictionaries to stoke my fires. Dictionaries
published as recently as the 1960s simply make me smile. I find what I need in
them. They include the features I expect.
One
such element is the “synonym” feature which closes the occasional entry. This
feature takes similar words or terms & parses out the shades of meaning.
Here are two synonym entries from my 1959 Webster’s
New World Dictionary:
Intelligent
“Intelligent implies the ability to
learn or understand from experience or to respond successfully to a new
experience; clever implies quickness
in learning or understanding, but sometimes connotes a lack of thoroughness or
depth; alert emphasizes quickness in
sizing up a situation; bright and smart are somewhat informal, less
precise equivalents for any of the preceding; brilliant implies an unusually high degree of intelligence; intellectual suggests keen intelligence
coupled with interest and ability in the more advanced fields of knowledge.
Beautiful
Beautiful is applied to that which
gives the highest degree of pleasure to the senses or to the mind and suggests
that the object of delight approximates one’s conception of an ideal; lovely applies to that which delights
by inspiring affection or warm admiration; handsome
implies attractiveness by reason of pleasing proportions, symmetry, elegance,
etc., and carries connotations of masculinity, dignity, or impressiveness; pretty implies a dainty, delicate or
graceful quality in that which pleases and carries connotations of femininity
or diminutiveness; comely applies to
persons only and suggests a wholesome attractiveness of form and features
rather than a high degree of beauty; fair
suggests beauty that is fresh, bright or flawless and, when applied to persons,
is used especially of complexion and features; good-looking is closely equivalent to handsome or pretty,
suggesting a pleasing appearance, but not expressing the fine distinctions of
either word; beauteous in poetry and lofty prose is now often used in
humorously disparaging references to beauty.
Is
that poetry, or what?
Good
followers, what bits of old dictionaries do you fancy?
My thanks go out to this week’s source, Webster’s 1959 New World Dictionary of the American Language
" intellectual suggests keen intelligence coupled with interest and ability in the more advanced fields of knowledge."
ReplyDeleteThe few times I've been called intellectual, I had the distinct sense that it was intended to be somewhat akin to being called a demented crocodile. Hmmm,
What a beauteous and brilliant post. I love old dictionaries! Old encyclopedias too. I have two versions of the Britannica: 1911 and 1951. They give such an amazing picture of how the world was perceived at those times.
ReplyDeleteLove every bit of my dictionary, which I got from my Dad's bookshelf in Buffalo, NY, when he died. Published in 1953 by G. & C. Merriam Co for the American Book Company, it's titled the Webster's Student Dictionary - published back when students were still expected to actually learn. It might be a mere student dictionary, minus a lot of bells and whistles, but it's solid and comprehensive and always gives me what I want.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly - I never noticed this before today - It's got a stamp inside: Stanley B. Ellis School, Sunnyvale, CA. This 59-yr-old book got discarded from the school (probably in the 70s), transported somehow to Buffalo, NY, and has now been brought back to Los Osos, CA. Whoda thunk it??
Hi Steve, Anne & Susan,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for dropping in. Susan, I got my '59 from a used bookstore. It replaced my beloved '47, which eventually came apart in my hands, and started its life with me in a used bookstore. One of the beauties of printed books is that they can have multiple lives with multiple owners. And Anne, encyclopedias, indeed. Steve, I'd never refer to you as a demented crocodile; odd duck for sure, but never demented crocodile.
Words are wonderful! Pecking through my old dictionaries is delightful. But my online dictionary is great, too. I'm able to hear them as well.
ReplyDelete