Defintions - By Gabby Canzoniero

-
In our last unit, we were given a chance to write a classification essay, a definition essay, or an example essay. I chose to write a definition essay, and this essay led to me thinking a lot about definitions as a whole. For example, who decided that a dictionary needed to be made so that people would know the definition of things? I was very intrigued by this question, and- feeling like Nick Allen from Frindle, by Andrew Clements- I decided to look up who created the dictionary.

When I looked this up, I was provided with many answers. The first answer that popped up when I typed my question into Google was an answer provided to me by Wikipedia. I was informed by Wikipedia that "John of Garland" created the word dictionary in 1220, but not the actual dictionary. John of Garland's book was called Dictionarius, and it was used to help people with learning Latin diction. In the same blurb of information given to me by Wikipedia, I found out that Richard Mulcaster created the first type of dictionary in 1582, something that he called Elementarie. This book was not quite like our modern-day dictionary, it was simply a list of around 8,000 words with the definitions provided, but these words were not in alphabetical order, unlike the dictionary we have today.

While this information somewhat answered my question, I still wanted to know who created the first modern-day dictionary, and I knew Wikipedia wasn't the most reliable website, so I decided to do some deeper research. I then decided to go to the website public.oed.com/history/#, because it is the official website for the Oxford English Dictionary, so, therefore, it is reliable. Through this website, I found that in 1857, the Philological Society of London decided that the current English dictionaries were incomplete and inadequate, so a new, complete dictionary must be created. In 1879, the Philological Society of London made an agreement with the Oxford University Press to create a new dictionary, and so one began to be created by James H. Murray.

I was very pleased with this information that I had discovered, but the history page on the Oxford English Dictionary website provided even more information about the dictionary. For example, it told the tale of creating the dictionary and how long this feat took. Murray and the men working with him believed it would take them about 10 years to create a new dictionary, but this estimate was way off how long it would take them in reality. After 5 years, the men had only reached the word "ant" in the dictionary. The entire dictionary was finally published in 1928, taking nearly 5 decades to complete the book. Part of the reason the dictionary took to long to complete was that the English language is constantly evolving, so new words kept emerging and were needed to add to the dictionary.

All of my researching was successful because, in the end, I found out who created the dictionary and why. It also didn't take that much researching, and the Oxford English Dictionary website was very helpful in helping me find the answers to all my questions.
Image result for dictionary"

Comments

  1. DanielleJanuary 2, 2020 at 9:17 AM

    I like that your creative definition essay led you to this train of thought!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancient Greek Heroes VS. Modern Day Heroes

-
Image
Heroes in Greek/Anglo-Saxon (I am grouping the types of historical literature we have read) writing are very obvious and much of ancient Greek literature involves a central hero or a supernatural story. In modern day English, however, the plots are less often mythical and more realistic. Since each person has a different definition for heroism, modern day heroism literature can be more varied. Ancient Greek writing is very often far-fetched, however. There are many similarities and differences between the two types of writing, but first I will run through the most significant differences. In Greek mythology, heroes were often religious figures, like demigods, while modern day writing focuses more on ordinary people. This could be because authors nowadays want the readers to be able to relate with the heroes in their stories. Greek writing had heroes that had the power to protect or destroy the people depending on prevailing circumstances. In contrast, modern day heroes are acknowledg...
Read more

My Brother by Elizabeth Hailey DeGasperis

-
Image
          When I contemplate what is most important in my life, my mind is drawn to my 21-year-old brother, Tom. There are not enough words in the English language I could use to describe what he means to me. I cannot imagine the past fifteen years of my life without him. Allow me to start from the beginning.           Even when I was an infant, he never failed to take me out of my crib, strap me in my high chair, and cook scrambled eggs for us (at the tender age of six). He did this so my mother could catch up on sleep in the mornings and take care of me however he could. I only wish I could return the favour in some way. Though we have always been tight, we used to fight frequently as all siblings do. As immature children, we viewed every ordeal as monumental. The apocalypse would occur if either of us decided to give the other access to the TV remote or the pogo sticks for five minutes. However, we would always make-up in the end and...
Read more

Not Fate, Just a Coincidence - Sila Paniker

-
Image
The idea of fate confuses me. I don't really understand how something will happen no matter what you do. It just seems very unlikely. I think we're constantly making choices that lead to occurrences. We make so many decisions a day that it seems impossible that fate can find a way around it all.  Awhile ago, I saw something called the Butterfly Effect, which doesn't exactly relate to fate but it makes sense to me. The idea is that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a tornado on the other side of the world. Essentially, small changes can have large impacts. In my head, this connects with the thousands of tiny decisions we subconsciously make each day. There are people I've met or things that have happened and it feels like it was meant to be but they're just a bunch of coincidences that had the ability to change everything. Thinking about it, there are reasons that can explain everything. For example, I met one of my closest friends a few years ago a...
Read more