THE TWO ENGLISH DICTIONARIES.*
THE merits of the New English Dictionary have been universally acknowledged. It claims to be constructed on
historical principles," and this claim has been allowed by common consent. A reader may rely upon finding in it a complete account of the past and present usage of any word that he may come across. There are possibly omissions and mistakes, but these are so rare that they may be practically neglected in forming an estimate of the work. The claims of the Century Dictionary are of quite another kind. It describes itself as an " encyclopedic lexicon." The historical element in it is made subordinate; it is mainly a book of reference for present wants. In fact, it is largely technical and, in a certain degree, scientific ; its literary character is distinctly of secondary importance. The spelling of a word, the pro- nunciation, the varieties of meaning, and, we may add, though perhaps with less confidence, the derivation, are given with sufficient fullness and accuracy; but for its literary history, if we want it in its completeness, we must look elsewhere. That there should be this difference between the two works, was the inevitable consequence of the different methods which have been followed in con- structing them. For the New English Dictionary a whole legion of readers have been at work for more years than are commonly taken to constitute a generation. The plan of an exhaustive examination of English literature with the view of giving a complete account of the usage of words, was started by the Philological Society somewhere in the " fifties," and this examination has been in progress ever since. Dr. Whitney has had, of course, the services of many collaborateurs, but their work has not, we take it, been of this kind. Indeed, the Century Dictionary is largely a compilation from other books. It began, to quote the words of Dr. Whitney's preface, with a proposal to "adapt the Imperial Dictionary to American needs." It has grown beyond this, especially in the direction of the explanation of scientific and technical terms. Assistance derived from Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary is par- ticularly acknowledged; and the help of experts in various arts and sciences has been called in. The encyclopaedic element is consequently prominent. No one can question the utility of this element, especially in the form which it here assumes. The exhaustive essays which form the staple content of such works as the Encyclopedia Britannica have a value of their own. But for practical purposes, for the non-expert who wants to discover the meaning or usage of some unfamiliar term, an encyclopaedic dictionary, with its short articles arranged in the most convenient and accessible way, and always to be found without recurrence to an index, is far more useful. Such a book of reference, more complete and full than anything ever before attempted, may be found in the Century Dictionary. The illustrations with which it is plentifully furnished, though appropriate, one might suppose, to an encyclopaedia rather than a dictionary, are of very considerable utility; and closely connected with the method of preparation, is the very important element of the speed of production. The Century Dictionary is to consist of twenty-four sections, constituting six volumes. " These sections," says the adver- tisement prefixed to the first section published, " will be issued about once a month." We imagine that this ideal speed has not been kept up. But even an approximate realisation of the original idea of completing the whole work in two years would be a great advantage to students who cannot hope to live long enough to "see their footprints harden into stone." It will be, anyhow, a great contrast to the rate of progression hitherto attained by Dr. Murray's Titanic work. The first part of this was published in 1884, and we have now got as far as " clivy," a word which comes, or should come (for, as a matter of fact, it is not found), on p.1050 of the
* (1.) The Century Dictionary. Prepared under the Superintendence of William Dwight Whitney, LL.D. Vol. I. New York: Century Company ; London : T. Fisher Itnwin. JEEP.—(2.) A Ken English Dictionary. Edited by James A. IL Murray. Part V.: Cast—Olivy. Orford : The. Clarendon Press. 1889.
first volume of the Century Dictionary. If this proportionate rate of progress be kept up, we cannot expect the last part of the New English Dictionary till the first decade of the next century has been completed. We must not be understood as complaining. We acknowledge that this slow rate of pro- duction is inevitable, and is fully compensated by the value of the results. But it is impossible to forget that it is only the student who can be content, even if he is content, to wait ; the man of business must have what he wants within what seems. to him a reasonable time, and he will find it in the volumes which are coming out under Dr. Whitney's auspices.
" The list of works used, and other acknowledgments and explanations that may be needed, will be given," says Dr. Whitney, " on the completion of the work." There is some- thing to be said for this postponement, which makes it possible to give these acknowledgments a completeness which they would not otherwise have. But it would have been more gracious to say a little more about the use which the Century Dictionary has made of the great work with which we have coupled it.. " It [the New English Dictionary] could be consulted in revising the proofs of A and part of B only," words which seem studiously to exclude all idea of obligation. That the later work owes something to the earlier, can hardly be doubted,. and no one would have thought the worse of it if a word of thanks had been added to the very bare acknowledgment that we have quoted. It is impossible, of course, to say what the revisers of " the proofs of A and part of B " may have got from the New English Dictionary, but we may see in a later part that they might have gained something, bad such consultation been still possible. We have examined the words from "cast" to " cams," and find that, without making any mention of various obscure and obsolete words, there are omissions of some im- portance. The Century Dictionary omits entirely the verb. "to castellate," though used in modern English, once in so. important a book as Sir Henry Taylor's Autobiography. It gives " castellated," but describes it as an " adjective," whereas it should be, the verb being in use, a participle. It omits also " castigative," a word which the New English owes doubtless. to one of its multitude of readers, and both " castle-like" and "castle-wise,"—though it is possible that both of these may have been deliberately excluded as " words that can be used at will in accordance with the established principles of the language but which are too obvious to need separate definition." (Preface, p. 6.) " Castral " is also wanting. This is used by no less an authority than Mr. liinglake, in EOthen," the castral life of the Arabs ;" but if Dr. Whitney claims the right of excluding words " used for the nonce by writers of all periods and of all degrees of authority," he has a defence. This, however, is a dangerous principle to advance. A Greek Lexicon that should exclude tirec Eipnicipa would certainly be open to animadversion.
We cannot omit a word of commendation for the clear typography and well-executed illustrations of the Century Dictionary.
Previous page
