ABSTRACT
In the dictionary we may thus in the first place ,0 --;. I) take a. word, say Ellglish cat, and then exphin what it means, either by a. paraphrase or ddinition in English, a.s in a one-language dietionary. or else by the French transl,1tion • chat,' as in a two-language dictionary. The \'arious meanillgs of the same word are given, and in some instances these may in course of time have become so far differentiated as to constitute practically two or more words, thus cheer (1) face, (2) food, (3) good humour, (4) applause. In this part we have to place together words that have the same sound (homophones or homonyms), e.g. sound (l) what may be heard, (2) examine, probe, (:3) healthy, sane (-i) part of the sea. l
whose place, as we have seen above, is in the dictionary rather than in the grammar: one, two, three. . . . But what would be the best logical arrangement of the words image, picture, photo, portrait, painting, drau'ing, 8ketch t On account of the utter complexity of the world around us and of the thin~ and thoughts which language has to express, it is an extremely difficult thing to make a satisfactory arrangement of the whole vocabulary on a logical basis; a well-known attempt is made in Roget's ThesauT'IU oJ English Words and Phrases; Bally's arrangement in TraUe de 8tylistique Jranr;aise Vol. II seems an improvement on Roget's arrangement, but is far less complete. If in the 0 -? I part all homophones were placed together, here on the other hand we have to place synonyms together; thus dog will go with hound, pup, whelp, cur, 1IUJ,8tiff, spaniel, terrier, etc.; way in one signification with road, path, trail, passage, etc., in another with manner, method, mode. So again, cheer will be found in one place with repast, Jood, provi8ion, meal, etc., in another with approval, sanction, applause, acclamation, etc. These remarks apply to a one-language dictionary of the class I ~ 0 ; in a two-language dictionary we simply start from some word in the foreign language and give the corresponding word or words in our own.
