page_title: Encyclopedia
section_title: Sixteenth century usage of the compounded word
hierarchical_section_title: Encyclopedia / Etymology / Sixteenth century usage of the compounded word
caption_attribution_description: English: Pavao Skalić (Latin: Paulus Scalichius), Croatian encyclopedist, humanist and adventurer: "Encyclopaediae, seu orbis disciplinarum, tam sacrarum quam prophanarum, epistemon" - title page; published in Basle in 1559. Hrvatski: Pavao Skalić, hrvatski enciklopedist, humanist i pustolov: "Enciklopedija ili znanje svijeta svetih i svjetovnih struka" - naslovna stranica; tiskano u Baselu 1559.
context_page_description: An encyclopedia or encyclopaedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either from all branches or from a particular field or discipline.
  Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are often arranged alphabetically by article name and sometimes by thematic categories. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries. Generally speaking, unlike dictionary entries—which focus on linguistic information about words, such as their etymology, meaning, pronunciation, use, and grammatical forms—encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning the subject named in the article's title.
  Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years and have evolved considerably during that time as regards to language, size, intent, cultural perspective, authorship, readership, and the technologies available for their production and distribution. As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found a prominent place in libraries, schools and other educational institutions.
context_section_description: In the sixteenth century there was a level of ambiguity as to how to use this new word. As several titles illustrate, there was not a settled notion about its spelling nor its status as a noun. For example: Jacobus Philomusus's Margarita philosophica encyclopaediam exhibens (1508); Johannes Aventinus's Encyclopedia orbisque doctrinarum, hoc est omnium artium, scientiarum, ipsius philosophiae index ac divisio; Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius's Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia (1538, 1541); Paul Skalich's Encyclopaediæ, seu orbis disciplinarum, tam sacrarum quam prophanarum, epistemon (1559); Gregor Reisch's Margarita philosophica (1503, retitled Encyclopaedia in 1583); and Samuel Eisenmenger's Cyclopaedia Paracelsica (1585).
  There have been two examples of the oldest vernacular use of the compounded word. In approximately 1490, Franciscus Puccius wrote a letter to Politianus thanking him for his Miscellanea, calling it an encyclopedia. More commonly, François Rabelais is cited for his use of the term in Pantagruel (1532).
caption: Title page of Skalich's Encyclopaediæ, seu orbis disciplinarum, tam sacrarum quam prophanarum, epistemon from 1559, first clear use of the word encyclopaedia in the title.[14]
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