ENGLISH IV T 4
2002 –2003 Semester II
N. Iwamoto
LECTURE 1: DICTIONARIES AND STYLE MANUALS
1 October 2002
DICTIONARIES
(1) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 1989)
22,000 pages in 20 volumes, 500,000 definitions, 2.5 million quotations, 1.2 m thick, 68 kg:
http://www.oed.com, http://www.oup-usa.org.
(2) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 10th ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 1999).
220,000 words, phrases and meanings.
(3) The New Pocket Oxford Dictionary, 9th ed. . (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 2001).
140,000 entries.
(4) Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (Merriam-Webster Inc.,
Springfield, Massachusetts, 1993).
472,000 entries, 3,000 illustrations, 140,000 etymologies, 10 cm thick, 5.7 kg.
(5) Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts,
1998).
215,000 definitions, 700 illustrations,
(6) The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (Random House, Inc., New York,
1987).
(7) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4 th ed. (American Heritage Publishing
Co., Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2000).
(8) Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1984).
(9) Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1989).
STYLE MANUALS
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. (The Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1993).
Webster’s Standard American Style Manual (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1985).
W. Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th ed. (Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA., 2000).
R. W. Burchfield, The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Revised 3rd ed. (Oxford Univ. Press,
New York, 2000).
D. Hacker, Rules for Writers, 2nd ed. (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1988).
Webster’s Compact Writer’s Guide (Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1987).
J. C. Hodges and Marty E. Whitten, Harbrace College Handbook, 8th ed. (Harcout Brace Jovanovich,
New York, 1977).
Webster’s New World Secretarial Handbook, 4th ed. (Simon & Shuster, New York, 1989).
Random House Webster’s English Language Desk Reference, 2nd ed. (Random House, New York,
1999).
ENGLISH IV T 4
2002-2003 Semester II
N. Iwamoto
LECTURE 1: DICTIONARIES AND STYLE MANUALS
1 October 2002
WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY
Noah Webster (1758-1843)
American lexicographer and author
1783
Grammatical Institute of the English Language, part I
 Webster’s Spelling Book (Blue Backed Speller)
1784
Part II (grammar)
1785
Part III (reader)
1806
Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
1807
Began work on larger dictionary
1828
An American Dictionary of the English Language (2 vols.)
1843
Rights to his dictionary sold by his heirs to firm of G. & C. Merriam of Springfield, Mass.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
more than 470,000 entries
200,000 usage examples
more than 1,000 synonym articles
3,000 pictorial illustrations
clear, informative etymologies
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
almost 160,000 entries
more than 200,000 definitions
clear, authoritative guide to good usage
dated entries
etymology < etymon + -logia –logy (14c)
etymon L. fr. Gk. Literal meaning of a word according to its origin, fr. etymos true; akin to Gk. eteos true
(1570)