Review of the Idea
of the Dictionary

(continued)

By G. David Schwartz

In my library, which you may by now assume I am recommending as the ideal library for beginners, I have the English/Spanish//Spanish/ English dictionary, as well as ones containing a large number of words from French, German, Hebrew, Swedish, Russia, China and Pig Latin. I frequently use these texts as reference works although, from month to month, I have difficulty finding them. (This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many of the dictionaries I own were published by Random House.)

For example, the Russian dictionary used to be placed on the lowest shelf to separate it from the English (and various American) dictionaries as well as the Dictionary of the Western World. Now these two dictionaries are next to each other. My The Glorious Arabian Language Dictionary is in another room entirely than my Yiddish dictionary. The Swedish dictionary found a spot in the midst of all the other dictionaries. As my library grew, however, I found it necessary to purchase several copies of the Swedish dictionary. This enabled me to put one in the middle of every shelf on which I housed my dictionaries.

As an aside: your library may be arranged differently. Proper planning should allow you to purchase several languages in their concise editions. Although these are not necessarily slimmer volumes (the Categorically Handicapped Edition of Chinese Explanations is a much thinner volume, for example, than the Book of Zen Explanations, even though the latter text is composed of blank pages), it is logically possible to extend all of your dictionaries on a single shelf. If necessary, the shelf in question may be twenty feet long.

The second hybrid product I wish to discuss is the idea of the dictionary. In this classification we find texts which may be labeled "special interest products," except this would imply that the texts we have looked at thus far have no special interest. In the special interest category we find such titles as: Aeromechanics Dictionary; Bartlett's Dictionary of Quotations (alphabetically listed, of course); Baroscopic and Bipartisan Dictionary; Businessman's Dictionary; Devil's Dictionary; Reversionary Tactics and Procedures Dictionary, and the like. It is notable that each of these special interest editions are adamant about inserting the word "dictionary" in their title. As should be obvious, each special interest dictionary is one which is concerned with only a selection of the available words in any language, and presents these words with a unique or exceptional definition, of or for a particular occasion, purpose, etc. Forgive my confusion; I thought this was the primary purpose of each dictionary.

Special mention, under this head, must be given the Crossword Dictionary. I have several crossword dictionaries, but not one of them have the words "bitch," [tarnished term rejected out], "scumbag," or the like. In fact, the term dictionary for these texts are a misnomer.
The first part of every crossword dictionary is ... a thesaurus. Rather than define words, both the crossword "dictionary" and the thesaurus tell your other words for the words in question.

So, for example, my Dell Crossword Dictionary, under "seize" lists "nab, grasp, grab, usurp, arrest and collar." This will only confuse the beginner because, under collar, for example, we do not find the word "nab" as a corollary, but we do find "eton, fichu, gorget, rabat, rabato, and rebato": words which are NOT in my DICTIONARY! To make matters worse, my thesaurus, under the word "seize" lists a total of fifty-five words or by-words. The thesaurus, then, is much more explanatory without collaring the word "dictionary" and making no pretensions to being a dictionary.

Nevertheless, the crossword books do serve a purpose which the thesaurus does not. Listed therein are several words and thesaurastic instances which are found together nowhere else. I need give a single example: "Hamite ... somal, berber, somali." For the majority of us, who need words without being burdened with precise meanings, the crossword texts are a wonderful addition to our library.