Historical Thesaurus of English
Encyclopedia
The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (HTOED) is the largest thesaurus
in the world, conceived and compiled by the English Language Department of the University of Glasgow
. The HTOED is a complete database of all the words in the second edition of The Oxford English Dictionary
, arranged by semantic field
and date. In this way, the HTOED arranges the whole vocabulary of English
, from the earliest written records in Old English
to the present, alongside types and dates of use. It is the first historical thesaurus to be compiled for any of the world's languages and contains 800,000 meanings for 600,000 words, within 230,000 categories, covering more than 920,000 words and meanings, and making it double the size of Roget’s version
. As its website states, "the Thesaurus will be equally valuable in linguistic studies, where it will contribute essential information to the study of meaning and change of meaning, and will also be relevant in such fields as the history of ideas and cultural history."
Work on the HTOED started in 1965 and it was published on 22 October 2009, after 44 years of work. It consists of two slipcased hardcover volumes, totaling nearly 4,000 pages. Oxford University Press announced in June 2010 that the contents of the Historical Thesaurus would be incorporated into the OED Online when it is relaunched in December.
The second order categories are:
Section I – The External World
Section II – The Mind
Section III – Society
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
in the world, conceived and compiled by the English Language Department of the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
. The HTOED is a complete database of all the words in the second edition of The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, arranged by semantic field
Semantic field
A semantic field is a technical term in the discipline of linguistics to describe a set of words grouped by meaning in a certain way. The term is also used in other academic disciplines, such as anthropology and computational semiotics.-Definition and usage:...
and date. In this way, the HTOED arranges the whole vocabulary of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, from the earliest written records in Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
to the present, alongside types and dates of use. It is the first historical thesaurus to be compiled for any of the world's languages and contains 800,000 meanings for 600,000 words, within 230,000 categories, covering more than 920,000 words and meanings, and making it double the size of Roget’s version
Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus is a widely-used English language thesaurus, created by Dr. Peter Mark Roget in 1805 and released to the public on 29 April 1852. The original edition had 15,000 words, and each new edition has been larger...
. As its website states, "the Thesaurus will be equally valuable in linguistic studies, where it will contribute essential information to the study of meaning and change of meaning, and will also be relevant in such fields as the history of ideas and cultural history."
Work on the HTOED started in 1965 and it was published on 22 October 2009, after 44 years of work. It consists of two slipcased hardcover volumes, totaling nearly 4,000 pages. Oxford University Press announced in June 2010 that the contents of the Historical Thesaurus would be incorporated into the OED Online when it is relaunched in December.
Main sections
The work is divided into three main sections: the External World, the Mind, and Society. These are broken down into successively narrower domains. The text eventually discriminates more than 236,000 categories.The second order categories are:
Section I – The External World
- The Earth
- Life
- Physical sensibility
- Matter
- Existence
- Relative properties
- The Supernatural
Section II – The Mind
- Soul, spirit, mind
- Emotion/feeling
- Judgement, opinion
- Aesthetics
- Will/faculty of will
- Expectation
- Having/possession
- Languages
Section III – Society
- Society/life in association with others
- Inhabiting/dwelling
- Relations between social groups
- Authority
- Law
- Education
- Religion
- Communications
- Travel/travelling
- Work / Serious occupation
- Leisure/The Arts
External links
- Menu page for the Historical Thesaurus of English, allowing one to search the thesaurus for synonyms.
- A Historical Thesaurus of English (HTE) homepage, including links to a limited test website and the complete searchable Thesaurus of Old English (Roberts and Kay 1995, 2000).
- "OED Online relaunch: frequently asked questions", FAQ by OUP, June 2010.