Fall 2001

 

INLS 111: INFORMATION RESOURCES AND SERVICES I

 

School of Information and Library Science

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

DICTIONARIES AND WORD SOURCES

 

 

The following list represents a selection of some of the most important English-language word sources.  Numerous worthy sources have been omitted for the sake of space and clarity.  Consult Balay’s Guide to Reference Books, Walford’s Guide to Reference Material, and American Reference Books Annual for a more extensive list. Also consult online reference and dictionary sites. Please suggest additions to this list as you encounter interesting and significant sources. Posting these to the class listserv is a good way to do this.  Also, if you find any errors, especially in call numbers, please let me know.

 

 

I.              BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND GUIDES

 

ARBA Guide to Subject Encyclopedias and Dictionaries. 2d ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1997.  [Davis Ref. AE1 .A72 1997]

 

Karp, Rashelle S. Dictionaries for Adults and Children. Chicago, IL: Booklist Publications, ALA, 1991. [SILS PE1611 .K377 1991]

 

Kister, Kenneth. Dictionary Buying Guide: A Consumer Guide to General English-Language Wordbooks

                 in Print. New York: Bowker, 1977. [Davis Ref.; SILS Z2015 .D6K57 1977]

 

Obviously out-of-date regarding materials in print, but still provides useful list of evaluation criteria.

 

__________. Kister's Best Dictionaries for Adults and Young People: A Comparative Guide. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992. [SILS Ref. PE1611 .K57 1992]

 

Mirwis, Allan. Subject Encyclopedias: User Guide, Review Citations, and Keyword Index. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1999. [SILS AE1 .M57 1999]

 

Reference Books Bulletin Editorial Board of the American Library Association. Reference Books Bulletin. Chicago: American Library Association, 1983- . Annual. [Davis Ref. Z1035.1 .S922]

 

Wynar, Bohdan S, ed. American Reference Books Annual. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1970- . Annual. [ Davis Ref, SILS Ref. Z1035.1 .A55]

 

 

II.            UNABRIDGED DICTIONARIES

 

Oxford English Dictionary (New English Dictionary on Historical Principles). 2nd ed. 20 vols. and supplement. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. [Davis Ref. PE1625 .O87 1989; Online subscription held by Davis Library http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl]

 

The principle behind the OED is to trace the use of every word of Middle and Modern English from its earliest written occurrence. The OED today is the largest reference work on the English language produced, and is regarded as the final authority on the subject.

 

Random House Unabridged Dictionary. 2nd ed., newly rev. and updated. New York: Random House, 1993. [Davis Ref., Row 1, PE1625 .R3 1993;  CD-ROM Davis Ref Electronic Resources]

                               

Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1993. [Davis Ref. PE1625 .W36 1993] 12,000 Words: A Supplement to Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1986 [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PE1630 .A17 1986]

 

 

III.           SEMI-ABRIDGED DICTIONARIES

 

The World Book Dictionary. 2 vols. Chicago: World Book, 1992. [Davis. PE1625 .W73 1987; SILS Juv. Ref. Coll., not catalogued, 1993 ed.]

 

 

IV.           DESK (COLLEGE) DICTIONARIES

 

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1628 .A623 2000] Electronic Access: http://www.bartleby.com/61/.

 

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1997. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1628 .M36 1997]

 

OneLook Dictionaries. The Faster Finder.   [http://www.onelook.com/]

Search 490 general and specialized English dictionaries simultaneously, or select the ones you want to search. Over 2 million words now indexed.

 

Random House Webster's College Dictionary.2nd Random House ed. New York: Random House, 1999. [UL Ref. PE1628 .R28 1999]

 

Webster's New World College Dictionary. 4th ed. New York: MacMillan, 1999.   [Davis Ref. PE1628 .W5629 1999]

 

WWWebster Dictionary [http://www.m-w.com/]

 

                Merriam-Webster’s free dictionary of 160,000+ entries is the Web’s most commonly available dictionary.  It is no more inclusive than the average college dictionary but it is adequate for a quick “look-up,” which is what many people want.  Also available at the same URL address is the WWWebster Thesaurus. Each time you search the dictionary, you are offered the thesaurus.  It will pull up words that have a similar sound to what is typed in; if you type a misspelling, i.e., ascerbic, will give you the choices acerbic and ascorbic.

 

 

VI.           ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES

 

American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. [Davis Ref. Desk P615 .A43 2000]

 

Oxford English Dictionary (New English Dictionary on Historical Principles). 2nd ed.  20 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. [Davis Ref. PE1625 .O87 1989]  Online subscription held by Davis Library http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl]

 

 

 

VII.         DICTIONARIES OF SLANG

 

Chapman, Robert L., ed. Dictionary of American Slang. 3rd. ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. (Revision of Wentworth and Flexner) [Davis Ref. Desk PE2846 .C46 1995]

 

Dickson, Paul. Slang: The Authoritative Topic-By-Topic Dictionary o f American Lingoes from All Walks of Life. New York: Pocket Books. 1998. [Davis PE2846.D43 1998]

 

Lewin, Esther and Albert E. Lewin. The Thesaurus of Slang. Rev. and exp. ed. New York: Facts on File, 1994. [Davis Ref. PE3721 .L45 1994]

 

Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. London: Routledge, 1984 [Davis Ref , UL Ref PE3721 .P3 1984b]

 

Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House, 1994. [Davis Ref. PE2846.H57 1994] 

 

 

VIII.        CONTEMPORARY USAGE, AND DIALECT

 

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. [Davis Ref.PE2839 .A47 1997]

 

The Barnhart Dictionary of New English Since 1963. Bronxville, NY: Barnhart/Harper & Row, 1973. [Davis Ref. PE1630.B3]; The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English. 1980. [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PE1630 .B3 1980]; Third Barnhart Dictionary of New English. 1990. [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PE1630 .B3 1990]

 

Cambridge Dictionary of American English. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. [Davis Ref. PE1628.C22 2000]

 

The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. [Davis Ref. PE2835 .W55 1993].

 

                With about 6,500 alphabetically arranged entries covering many aspects of word choice, pronunciation, grammar, and idiomatic usage, this guide emphasizes contemporary American usage rather than British usage. 

 

Dictionary of American Regional English. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, vol. 1- , 1985- . [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PE2843 .D52 1985]  (Vol. 3, “I-O” now out)

 

Encyclopedic Dictionary of English Usage. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993. [Davis Ref. PE1628 .M23 1993].

 

                This guide is intended as a single-volume ready reference for the educated professional who needs to write.  It combines the elements of a dictionary, a style manual, and a grammar guide, and also includes a "typical problem this book can solve" section.  This combination makes it unlike any other reference work, and more immediately useful. 

 

Fowler, Henry W. The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1628 .F65 1996]

 

Oxford American Dictionary and Language Guide. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. [Davis ref. PE1628.O8616 1999]

 

The Oxford Dictionary of New Words. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.  [Davis Ref. PE1630 .O94 1997].

 

Random House Webster’s Dictionary of American English. New York: Random House, 1997. [UL PE1628 .R2943 1997]

 

 

IX.           SYNONYMS, ANTONYMS, AND USAGE

 

Chamber's Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms. New York: Chambers, 1989. [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PE1591 .C425 1989]

 

Hobbs, James E. Homohones and Homographs: An American Dictionary. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. [Davis Ref. PE2833.H63 1999]

 

Roget's International Thesaurus: Fifth Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1591 .R73 1992]

 

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1591 .R715 1995;   CD-ROM Davis Ref. Electronic Resource #10-70]

 

X.            PRONUNCIATION

 

Ehrlich, Eugene H. NBC Handbook of Pronunciation. 4th ed. rev. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. [Davis Ref. PE1137 .E52 1991]

 

Noory, Samuel. Dictionary of Pronunciation. 3d ed. South Brunswick, NJ: A.S. Barnes, 1979. [Davis Ref. PE1137 .N65 1979]

 

 

XI.           ABBREVIATION AND ACRONYM DICTIONARIES

 

Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1960- . 26rd ed. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1693 .G3]

 

Reverse Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations Dictionary. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1972- . Annual. [Davis Ref. PE1693 .G32]

 

 

XII.         QUOTATION BOOKS

 

Andrews, Robert.  The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PN6081 .A652 1993;  CD-ROM Davis Ref. Electronic Resource

               

                This collection of 18,000 quotations is arranged by fairly narrow subject headings.  There is an index of personal names but no keyword or subject index.  Because it lacks a keyword index, it won't be the first place to try to identify a specific quotation before you try Bartlett's or Oxford. 

 

Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations. 16th ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. [Davis Ref. Desk PN6081 .B27 1992]

 

                In this comprehensive work, authors appear chronologically in the order of their birth dates.  The index of authors provides birth and death dates and the page number for the quotations by each author, as well as the page numbers for any additional quotations by that author in the footnotes.  The keyword index makes it easy to locate terms in a keyword group.

 

Gale's Quotations: Who Said What? Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. [CD-ROM Davis Ref. Electronic Resource, UL Reference]

 

This is a database of approximately 117,000 quotations drawn from a variety of sources but most notably from Gale's Almanac of Famous People. Most but not all entries provide the source of the quotation. The principal indexes allow for searching by author/speaker, keyword, or by a listing of quotations

 

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Rev. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.  [Davis Ref. Desk PN6081 .O9 1996]

 

                This expansion of the 1979 edition includes 17,500 quotations from roughly 2,500 authors.  A major area of expansion was the representation of non-English authors, thinkers, and public figures.  It has a keyword index, which is very helpful.

 

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1989. [Davis Ref., UL Ref. PN6081 .R435 1989; Davis Fed Docs  Ready Ref LC14.2:D56]

 

 

XIII.            REVERSE DICTIONARIES

 

Bernstein, Theodore M. Bernstein's Reverse Dictionary. 2nd ed. New York: Times Books, 1988. [Davis Ref. Desk PE1591 .B45 1988]

 

When you know the definition, but can’t think of the term, this volume is very useful. a few words of descriptive text are followed by a specific term. It also functions indirectly as a thesaurus, although that isn’t its main purpose.

 

 

XIV.            VISUAL/PICTURE DICTIONARIES

 

DK Illustrated Oxford Dicitonary. London: DK Publishing, 1998. [Davis Ref. PE1629.D5 1998]

 

The Macmillan Visual Dictionary. Multilingual Edition. New York: Macmillan, 1997 [Davis  Ref, UL Ref P361 .M28 1994] .

 

This is a wonderful tool for comparison of terminology in four languages – English, French, Spanish, and German.  Each page is an illustration of some sort, mostly of everyday items, such as clothing, but also including cut-away illustrations of engines, spacecraft, etc. Each item on the page is labeled with up to four terms for the item, in the different languages.

 

 

XV.         FOREIGN-LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES

 

                [Several publishers, such as Cassell’s, Collins, Larousse, Harrap’s and Oxford-Duden produce several (French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.) foreign language dictionaries.]

 

Cassell's French-English, English-French Dictionary. London: Cassell’s, 1988. [Davis Ref. PC2640 .C3 1988]

 

 

 

 

 

 

XVI.        LIBRARY AND BOOK TRADE

 

Encyclopedia of the Book: Terms Used in Papermaking, Printing, Bookbinding and Publishing with Notes on Illuminated Manuscripts and Private Presses. 2nd ed. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1996. [Davis Ref. Z118 .G55 1996; SILS Ref. has the 1st ed., 1979, Z118 .G55]

 

ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science. Chicago: ALA, 1983 [Davis Ref., SILS Ref. Workroom Z1006 .A48 1983]

 

Harrod's Librarians' Glossary and Reference Book: A Directory of Over 9,600 Terms Organizations, Projects and Acronyms in the Areas of Information Management, Library Science, Publishing, and Archive Management. Aldershot, Hants, Eng.: Gower, 2000. [SILS Ref. Workroom Z1006 .H32 2000]

 

Keenan, Stella. Concise Dictionary of Library and Information Science. London: Bowker-Saur, 2000. [Z1006.K39 2000]