University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2002

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1Upgrading the Indo-European-Root-Based Hyper English Dictionary
Yoshihiro Hoshino
Abstracts1061138

One method for the English word learning is using
Indo-European roots. By using them, learning English
words becomes systematic and more interesting. The
Indo-European-Root-Based Hyper English Dictionary isused for this English vocabulary learning. This dictionary was produced by Prof. Ikebe from the standpointthat “no reform in language education is possible without
reforming dictionaries”. Also this dictionary was madeby the research on the new formed dictionary for English word learning. Indo-European roots used as a way
to arrange and classify English words are based on 596
types classified in The American Heritage Dictionary ofthe English Language (AHD) Third Edition. The AHDforth edition [3] and The American Heritage Dictionaryof Indo-European roots (AHD of IE roots) second edition [2] were published in 2000. These include the IndoEuropean roots which were not contained in third edition.
The present hyper dictionary has some flaws. For example, some of the Indo-European roots which are contained in the AHD forth edition are not registered, also
some of the most important words such as “already”,“beyond”, which derive from the non-registered IndoEuropean roots, are not registered. These flaws must beimproved.
In this research, the advantages of this hyper dictionary are mentioned, and in order to improve this hyper
dictionary, the Indo-European roots information is updated from the third edition to the forth edition, and theimportant words which are derived from the added IndoEuropean roots are added. This hyper dictionary is more
useful because of this updating.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background1.1.1 What is the hyper dictionary?
The hyper dictionary is the dictionary which uses hyper
text which can be used on the World Wide Web. Thehyper dictionary is better than the usual dictionary madeof paper. Followings are the examples.
• The hyper dictionary is easier to carry than the usual

Supervised by Prof. Yasushi Kikuchi

dictionary made of paper.
• The hyper dictionary can be used by everyone everywhere.
• Revision of the hyper dictionary by the addition ofdata, deletion and a change can be done easily.
• For a long time, even if the hyper dictionary is used
many times, it doesn’t deteriorate, and it isn’t damaged.
• By using links, the hyper dictionary can have a multiple layer structure which a usual dictionary can’thave.
1.1.2 What are Indo-European roots?
Proto-Indo-European is not the natural language which
existed as a real language but the virtual language. It
was created by the comparative linguistics which developed rapidly from in the 19th century in Europe, and using the theoretical re-composition as following the regular change in sounds and rhyme found in the IndoEuropeans, which are distributed widely in the IndoEuropean area, for example, English, German and Dutch(the Germanic side), French, Italian and Spanish (the Romance side), Greek (the Greek side), Russian (the BalticSlavic side), Sanskrit (the Indian Iranian side), and so on.
The stems which are arranged some patterns in ProtoIndo-European are the Indo-European roots. [5]1.1.3 The advantages and utilities of using the IndoEuropean roots
Words which have the same Indo-European root as theorigin of the words can be learned at the same time.
For example, the word “dairy” has the Indo-Europeanroot “dheigh-”, whose meaning is to construct, to makeand to knead clay. The words which derive from thisIndo-European root, that is, same root words of dairy are
showed in Figure 1.

Judging from the Indo-European root, “dairy” meansa place where cheese or butter is made, “lady” meansa person who kneads bread, “dough” means kneaded
bread material, “figure” means the form which is made

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2002

Figure 1: derivation of dairyof kneaded mud, “figurine” means the figure which ismade of kneaded mud, “fiction” means a thing which
was kneaded, “paradise” is derived from “pairidaeza” inAvestan, which is an extinct language close to old Persian. “pairidaeza” means a place surrounded by a wall
made of brick which is made of kneaded mud like a garden or an orchard.
In this way, when learners memorize some words which
seem like there’s no link, they can memorize them as thewords which have connection by using Indo-Europeanroots. This is a very eﬀective way of English vocabulary
learning.
The diﬀerences in the nuance and the usage of the synonyms from the Indo-European roots can be guessed.
The diﬀerence between “anger” and “rage” is described
below as a example.
“anger” has the Indo-European root “angh-”, whose
meaning is painful, tight, painfully constricted. Thewords which derive from this Indo-European root are
showed in Figure 2.

Guessing from these words’ meanings, it is supposed that anger’s meaning is the anger against being
tormented, or to be restrained unjustly.
In the same way, “rage” has the Indo-European root
“rebh-”, whose meaning is violent, impetuous. Thewords which derive from this Indo-European root are
showed in Figure 3.

Guessing from these words’ meanings, it is supposedthat rage’s meaning is to get angry suddenly passionately.

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Figure 2: derivation of anger

Figure 3: derivation of rage

There are expressions such as “road rage” and “airrage”. “Road rage” means to drive a car recklessly on theroad with anger. “Air rage” means to lose self-control in
airplane with anger. However, there are no expressions
such as “road anger” and “air anger”. This is guessed byeach Indo-European root.
Like this, the proper use of the synonyms can become
clear and accurate by using the Indo-European roots. [4]
1.1.4 The present hyper dictionary
The present hyper dictionary was made by Prof. Ikebe
from the standpoint that “no reform in language education is possible without reforming dictionaries”. Also
this dictionary was made by the research on the newformed dictionary for English word learning. This dictionary uses Indo-European roots as a way to arrange
and classify English words. The Indo-European roots

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2002

are based on 596 types classified in AHD Third Edition.
This hyper dictionary can be found on World Wide Web
at: http://mfntsv1.u-aizu.ac.jp:8080/hidic/hdhome.htm.

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1.2 Problems• The number of words is too small to use as a dictionary.
• Hyper dictionary is not equivalent to the IndoEuropean roots which were increased with theabove the AHD Fourth Edition and the AHDof IE roots SECOND EDITION from the AHD
Third Edition. For example, “rage” has the IndoEuropean root “rebh-”, but in the present hyper dictionary, it is said that “rage’s Indo-European root
doesn’t exist”.
• Some important words which derive from unregistered Indo-European roots are unregistered. For example, “actor” is not registered though it is a fundamental word to learn in junior high school.
• 50 sets of synonyms are registered but it is insuﬃcient.

Figure 4: Hyper English Dictionary

1.1.5 American Heritage Dictionary
AHD is one of the most widely used dictionaries inAmerica, and gets very high evaluation at Amazon.com
which is the famous shopping site in America. AHD
First Edition classified the Indo-European roots into
about 1400 types, but it was reduced by AHD Third
Edition to 596 types which have higher importance. Atpresent, AHD Fourth Edition and American Heritage
Dictionary of Indo-European roots (AHD of IE roots)
SECOND EDITION are published, and Indo-Europeanroots have been increased by AHD of IE roots SECONDEDITION in about 1400 types again.
1.1.6 The functions of present hyper dictionary• The reference from front of words• The present hyper dictionary doesn’t include theinformation of the transition between the presentword and the Indo-European roots.

1.3 Purpose of this research• To add words and Indo-European roots in orderto solve two problems, shortage of the registeredwords and non-correspondence to the shift to thenewest edition of AHD, in above problems.
• Learning about databases through the work to add
the words and Indo-European roots.
• Improvement of my own English skill by learning away to learn English words with the Indo-Europeanroots.

1.4 The construction of the following sections• The indication of synonyms list

In the second section, the contents of the actual works
and the results are described. In the third section, theconclusion of this research is described.

• The indication of Indo-European roots list

2 Actual works• The indication of prefixes list

2.1 Work content• The indication of stems list

2.1.1 The selection of the words to add• The reference from front of Indo-European roots• The number of registered Indo-European roots is596.
• The number of registered English words is 9730.

The English words registered into the present hyper
dictionary are the most important words and next important words (university entrance examination level)in PROGRESSIVE English-Japanese Dictionary, whichhave Indo-European root.

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2002

The words to add to the hyper dictionary are the important words which have Indo-European roots in thewords which should be memorized for a member of society. Also the most important words which have theIndo-European roots which are added in this research areadded. The number of the words to add is about 1000.
These words are selected by comparing the index ofAHD of IE roots with PROGRESSIVE English-Japanese
Dictionary as actual work.
2.1.2 Creation of the data table of the IndoEuropean roots and English words
The present hyper dictionary uses the data base software
named “Access” which was developed by Microsoft Corporation.
The data table about English words named “tango master” includes the following fields.
• distinction• spelling• headline distinction (distinction when there are
more than two same spelling words)• comment (The brief meaning of the word at the timeof carrying out title discernment)• the parts of speech• the meaning of the word
• synonyms (distinction of the synonyms data table)• Indo-European roots 1-4 (distinction of the IndoEuropean roots data table)• prefix 1-2 (distinction of the prefix data table)• stems (distinction of the stem data table)• reverse spelling
The data about the selected words input into theabove “tango master” data table one by one.
2.1.3 Investigation of the relation between theadded Indo-European roots and the existingwords
The value of the Indo-European roots field in “tangomaster” is rewritten when the word derives from a newly
added Indo-European root. The AHD of IE roots SECOND EDITION is referred when the word correspond tothe Indo-European root which is added newly. It took along time to check the AHD of IE roots and “tango master” data table one by one.

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2.2 Results of the works
2.2.1 Improvement
The Indo-European roots of the AHD newest edition
and the AHD of IE roots were added. The number of
those is 600. The number of the added words is 1000.
The sum of the registered words is 10000. The 15 prefixes which are needed by the added words were added.
2.2.2 Future works• The middle transition words information which Mr.
Sugiura, who is my companion in my laboratory,added in the hyper dictionary is not equivalent tothe added English words.
• The number of the registered words is insuﬃcientfor using as a dictionary.
• There are Indo-European roots which begin with“-” in the Indo-European roots added in this research. These are used by suﬃxes. Therefore, suffix information need to be added to use these IndoEuropean roots in this dictionary because this dictionary didn’t have suﬃx information.

2.2.3 The learning of the database skills
The fundamental skills of “Access” which were needed
when this research was carried out were learned for example, how to import and export, the structure of thedatabase, and so on.
2.2.4 Improvement of my own English skill
English study became more interesting by learning English word learning methods using Indo-European roots,
and my own English skills were developed. Actually,
my TOEIC score is higher than one before this researchstarted.

3 Conclusion
In this research, Prof. Ikebe’s Indo-European-RootBased Hyper English Dictionary became more usefuland more beneficial. Especially, almost all of the mostimportant words and next important words in the PROGRESSIVE English-Japanese Dictionary which werenot registered before were registered. This means increasing of the worth and the utility for high school
students or college students who study English. Moreover, through this research, my own knowledge of thedatabase, English words, and so forth has increased.

University of Aizu, Graduation Thesis. Mar, 2002

Acknowledgment
I want to thank Prof. Yasuhiko Ikebe for providing thisinteresting research theme and much helpful advice. I
also thank Prof. Nobuyoshi Asai and Prof. Yasushi
Kikuchi for providing much advice for this research andthesis writing. Everyone of the same laboratory gave memuch useful information. Thank you very much.

References[1] PROGRESSIVE English-Japanese Dictionary 3rd
Edition, Shogakukan, 1998.
[2] C. Watkins, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European roots SECOND EDITION,
Houghton Miﬄin Company, 2000.
[3] The American Heritage Dictionary Forth Edition,Houghton Miﬄin Company, 2000.
[4] Y. Ikebe, The Construction of a Hyper Dictionary
Database for the Study of English Words Second
Edition, International Symposium on the East andWest Language Cultures, July 25-27, 2001.
[5] Y. Ikebe, A Skill up Method for Technical English
Presentations part 1, Journal of Human Interface,Vol. 3 No. 1, pp.27-30, 2001.
[6] Y. Ikebe, Hyper Dictionary for English Word Study,
http://mfntsv1.u-aizu.ac.jp:8080/hidic/hdhome.htm.
[7] H. Nagae, Access 2000 step up learning, Gijutsuhyouronsha, 1999.

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