The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-02
SOME OF THE NEW BOOKS
The New Standard Dictionary.


A new edition of the Funk & wagnalls
standard Dictionary OF the English Lam
guage' has been issued. making the fifth
since the first one issued thirteen years ago.
All readers and students must have re-
marked the steady increase OF new words
in recent years. If proof were needed
that language Is a living. growing organ
ism 1t is amply offered by the two impos-
ing volumes Of this great dictionary. Com
parison OF this dictionary with any OF the
carrier ones issued would show that the
process OF word making and word defining
has Kept even pace with the progress OF
the world in other respects. DR.. Samuel
JohnSonts New Dictionary OF the English
Language" published more than a hundred
years ago. is worthless now, except as a
literary curiosity. 1t gave Johnson great
literary celebrity, but the publication OF
such a dictionary of the English ~ianguage
now would make its author ridiculous.
Since Johnson's time the Language has
grown as much as the world has advanced
in other respects. The present edition OF
the tandar Dictionary" is not only an
Improvement on the earlier editions, but on
ali other dictionaries OF the English Ian
guage extant. IL Is not only the latest
dictionary of the English anguage pub
hsned, but Is likely TO be generally recog-
nized as the most practical, comprehensive
ana authoritative. IL Is claimed that the
present revision and enlargement Of the
work have necesSitated an expenditure OF
more than Sl50,o0o. making the cost OF the
entire work more than $l,l00.0oo. This inn
mense cost is due TO the large amount OF
hi2h-priced work put upon IL, executive,
administrative, intellectual, operative and
mechanical. The first edition of the work
was considered a model OF its kind. but in
the present one the entire text has been
carefully revised and the appendix has been
wholly rewritten and reset Tn enlarge
ment and improvement OF the appendix, or
$50 pages, which brings the work up TO date.
makes the appendix alone contain about
1900 new important vocabulary terms ana
definitions, all used frequently in living
literature, some brought into use by recent
developments in literature, science, the arts
and handicrafts. some introduced into the
language during the Boer war and the
Chinese difficulties, and through the Span
sh-American war and resulting d~lf1cultles.
These additions, of course, represent sim
ply the growth of the language, the roots
and main body of which have remained I'M
changed, but which have never been as
clearly developed as they are Ia this work.
The editors OF the standard Dictionary.
wisely concluded that Ii Is the business OF
a dictionary to record usage, not 10 make
a language. The makers of a language are
not literary critics. but the people VINO
speak Il. 1t is nos for a dictionary 10 say
what words should be used or should not
be used, but it should answer questions
concerning words that are
relating to their spelling, pronunciation ana
meaning, and this the standard Diction-
ary'' does. To undertake TO dictate what
words the people should use would De an
lmperlInenCe. Int peOptc uudhc ehc 90
guage; the language is broad, based on the
peoples will In so far as a dictionary
omits to record words widely used by the
people, it is faulty; for II should De the
chief object of a dictionary TO help those
who consult ii TO understand the sense Oh
what they hear and read.
This edition of the standard Dictionary
does not omit or exclude words like boycott,
chesty, graft, etc. but according 10 the
Judgment of the editors IL stigmatzes them
as vulgar" slang, "coloquial, etc, OF,
Ne - ma, s,.o lfc,.ea % 50 nRiQnf ~
s.obsoiescent.' obsolete" etc. The plan or
defining by definitive statement rather than
by synonym which was SO extensively. I'll
lowed in the first edition or the Stanoaru'
has been even more fully adopted in treat
ing the words in the addenda 10 TINS edi-
ton. The definitions are exact, terse ana
clear ~cut-brief when Few WORDS are SUI
clopedic treatment when sucn treatment u
important to the correct understanding OF
a word. How fully the latest additions TO
general literature are recorded in this new
edition may be seen from the inclusion OF
such terms as automobile, remarkably Wen
illustrated with three types OF horseiess
| carriage showing the different parts or eacn;
DOGGY, a term in golf, bordereau, briquet.
chauffeur, expansionist, escalator, MUS
trated with a diagram In outline showing
moving stairway, etherion, immune LAYER
lex, manywhere, okapi. open door,
osteopathist. ping-pong. nepover' ro isS-
rider, two-step, Zionism. etc. Many
important new scientific terms are
here presented for the first IN any dc
tionary. Among these terms are notices IN
aeranautics. aerodome, aerophysics, vista
scope, ETC.. in biology, astrosphere, benthon.
centrosphere, mitosome, ETC.; In chemistry
aristol, betol, creolin, heroin. formaldehyde
| listerine, trional, etc.; In electricity, alter
nator, groundwire. kilampere, linkage,
third-rail, Roentgen rays, illustrated With
four full-page plates showing the appar-
atus and fifteen skiagraphs, one OF which
shows the -superimposition OF eight dis
tinct features; and. in wireless telegraphys
| coherer, decohesion, electric wave, maroon
| igram, syntony. Great care has been ex-
ercised In the application OF rules relating
to spelling. pronunciation. etc, and the
work is a safe authority, in these respects.
as i'm others. An appendix includes a mass
of new and valuable Information on q va
riety of subjects and the work closes WITH
an atlas of the world containing nearly 100
maps printed in colors. All OF this work has
been done by a large corps OF trained edi-
tors, statisticians and specialists, selected
with special reference to their equipment,
and IL has been done with the greatest hdel-
ity and care. The result is a work which VIII
long maintain its place In the foremost rank
of dictionaries and standard guides 20 tho
use of our mother togue. The mechanical
part OF the work is in the highest style OF
the book-making art and well MAINTAINS
the Funk & wagnalls standard.