Fowler's Concise English Dictionary

Fülszöveg

FOWLEKS
CONCISE ENGLISH
DICTIONARY
Compiled and edited by
H. W. Fowler
IN 1928 the great Oxford English Dictionary, after
more than forty years of work, was finally comple-ted. Its ten volumes comprised somé of the most extensive, thorough and detailed research ever done in any language and it became a criterion by which all subsequent work in lexicography was judged and assessed.
But ten volumes were beyond the pockets, and indeed the requirements, of most people, and it was evident that a more compact adaptatíon of such a dictionary, which took into account the usage and needs of the day, would be of immense value. As the fiill OED neared completion, Henry Fowler and his brother Francis George Fowler began preparation of what was to become one of the most famous dictionaries in the world, The Concise Oxford Dictionary ofCurrent English, the first edition of which appeared in 1911. It proved to be as successful as it was scholarly, and in 1929 a second edition was... Tovább

Fülszöveg

FOWLEKS
CONCISE ENGLISH
DICTIONARY
Compiled and edited by
H. W. Fowler
IN 1928 the great Oxford English Dictionary, after
more than forty years of work, was finally comple-ted. Its ten volumes comprised somé of the most extensive, thorough and detailed research ever done in any language and it became a criterion by which all subsequent work in lexicography was judged and assessed.
But ten volumes were beyond the pockets, and indeed the requirements, of most people, and it was evident that a more compact adaptatíon of such a dictionary, which took into account the usage and needs of the day, would be of immense value. As the fiill OED neared completion, Henry Fowler and his brother Francis George Fowler began preparation of what was to become one of the most famous dictionaries in the world, The Concise Oxford Dictionary ofCurrent English, the first edition of which appeared in 1911. It proved to be as successful as it was scholarly, and in 1929 a second edition was pub-lished, now revised and enlarged by Henry Fowler with the fiill advantage of the completed OED.
It is that famous edition of the Concise Oxford which is presented here as Fowler's Concise English Dictionary. The preface to the first edition is reprinted, and details all the features of this paragon of compact dictionaries: notes on vocabulary, spelling and pro-nunciation; explanation of the thorough etymology given for each entry; and cross-references to other words for the purpose of contrast, distinction, correlation etc. There are fiirther notes on the accent, pronunciation and inflexión of foreign words, and a full list of abbreviations used in the definitions. The whole is typeset with the clarity and precision the Oxford Press prided itself upon, so that while no space is wasted, it is superbly readable throughout its 1460 pages and 40,000 entries.
Henry Watson Fowler, who alsó produced The Kings English and his well-known Modern English Usage, died on the 26th December 1933. He left behind him a dictionary no lovers of the English language should have missing from their bookshelves. Vissza