ABSTRACT
The vocabulary of a modern language is listed in a dictionary. The words in a dictionary are arranged in alphabetic order. The Oxford English Dictionary is a remarkable achievement. Work started on the dictionary in 1857 and the first volume was published in 1884 and the last in 1928. A general dictionary does not always include words largely confined to areas remote from the dictionary’s home country, it records only a small proportion of slang, and it does not include the specialised vocabulary or jargon of various trades, professions and leisure occupations. Counting entries in a dictionary to estimate the size of vocabulary is not a satisfactory way to gauge the expressive power of a language. The Collins Sansoni English–Italian Dictionary gives 58 ways of translating the various senses of the transitive verb take into Italian. Etymology also plays a part in the arrangement of the dictionary in cases where a single form corresponds to more than one meaning.
