How Dictionaries Are Made

破书一堆

S.I.Hayakawa         

1 It is widely believed that every word has a correct meaning, that we learn these meanings mainly from teachers and grammars, and that dictionaries and grammar books are the highest authority in matters of meaning and usage(惯用法). Few people ask by what authority the writers of dictionaries and grammars say what they say. I once got into an argument(争论) with an English woman over the pronunciation of a word and offered to look it up in the dictionary. The English woman said firmly(坚定地), “What for? I am English. I was born and brought up in England. The way I speak is English.” Such confidence(自信心) about one’s own language is not uncommon among the English. In the United States, however, anyone who is willing to quarrel with the dictionary is regarded(把…当作) as out of his mind.

2 Let us see how dictionaries are made and how the editors arrive at definitions(定义). What follows applies(适用于) only to those dictionaryoffices where firsthand research goes-not those in which editors simply copy existing(现存的) dictionaries. The task of writing a dictionary begins with reading huge amounts of the literature of the period or subject that the dictionary is to cover. As the editors read, they copy on cards every unusual use of a common words in their ordinary(平常的) uses, and also the sentences in which each of these words appears.

3 That is to say, the context of each word is collected, along with the word itself. For a really big job of dictionary writing, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, millions of such card are collected, and the task of editing occupies(占) decades(10年). As the cards are collected, they are arranged in alphabetical(按字母表顺序的) order. When the sorting(整理、分类) is completed, there will be for each word anywhere from two or three to several hundred sentences, each on its card, which illustrate(说明) the meaning and use of the word.

4 To define a word, then, the dictionary editor places before him all the cards illustrating that word; each of the cards represents(表现) an actual use of the word by a writer of some impotance. He reads the cards carefully, throws away some, rereads the rest, and divides them up according to what he thinks are the several senses of the word. Finally, he writers his definitions, following the hard-and-fast rule that each definition must be based on what the sentences in front of him show about the meanings of the word. The editor cannot be influenced(影响) by what he thinks a given word ought(应该) to mean. He must work according to the cards, or not all.

5 The writing of a dictionary, therefore, is not a task of setting up ruling statements(陈述) about the “true meanings” of words, but a task of recording, to the best of one’s ability, what various words have meant to authors in the distant or immediate past. The writer of a dictionary is a historyian, not a lawgiver. If, for example, we had been writing. A dictionary in 1890, or even as late as 1919, we could have said that the word “broadcast(撒播)” means “to scater(撒播)” [seed(播种)，for example], but we culd not have laid down that from 1919 on the most comm.on meaning of the word should become “To send out programs by radio or televiseion.” To regard the dictionary writer as being able to see into the future, which neither he nor anyone else can do. In choosing our words when we speak or write, we can be guided(引导) by the historyical record provided for us by the dictionary, but we should not be bound(束缚) by it, because new situations, new experiences, new inventions(发明), new feeling are always making us give new uses to old words.

Word  List 单词表

widely  adv.广泛地，普遍地
mainly  adv.主要地  
grammar  n.语法书；语法  
authority  n.权威著作；学术权威  
usage  n.（词语的）惯用法  
argument  n.争论，争辨，争吵  
firmly  adv.坚定地，坚决地  
confidence  n.把握；自信心  
uncommon  adj.不普通的，不寻常的  
edit  v.编辑  
editing  n.编辑  
editor  n.编辑，编者  
define  v.给（词语等）下定义  
definition  n. （词语等的）定义  
firsthand  adj.第一手的，直接的  
existing  adj.现存的，目前的，现行的  
amount  n.数量  
literature  n.文献；文学  
subject  n.题目，题材，主题  
occupy  v.占（时间、空间、场所等）  
decade  n.10年  
alphabetical  adj.按字母表顺序的  
sorting  n.整理，分类  
illustrate  v.（用例子等）说明  
represent  v.体现，典型地反映；代表  
carefully  adv.仔细地；聚精会神地  
hard-and-fast  adj.（规则等）不可改变的
influence  v.影响，对……起作用  
given  adj.特定的  
ruling  adj.占指导地位的；统治的  
statement  n.陈述，声明  
record  v.记录  
various  adj.各种各样的，不同的  
author  n.著作者，作家  
historian  n.历史学家，史学工作者  
historical  adj.历史（上）的  
lawgiver  n.拟定法典者，立法者  
scatter  v.撒播  
guide  v.引导，指导  
bind(bound,bound)  v.约束，束缚  
invention  n.发明（物），创造（物）

Proper  Names 专有名词

S.I. Hayakawa  S.I.早川（人名）
England英格兰（英国地名）  
the United States  美国
Oxford 牛津

Useful Expressions    常用短语
  
offer to do sth.主动提出做某事   
bring up抚养，养大  
quarrel with (sb.)  与某人争吵
be out of one’s mind疯了  
begin with以……开始
huge/great amount of大量的（不可数）  
a (large) number of大量的（可数）   
according to按照  
that is to say也就是说  
from…to从……到  
regard…as看做，当做  
set up制定  
provide sth. for sb.给某人提供某物  
look up查字典；（在同一地方时）拜访（某人）  
    Please look up the new word in your dictionary.
    If you don’t know the word,look it up in the dictionary.
    I looked up a classmate when I went to Shanghai.   
what for 为什么
    You are leaving us?What for?
    What are you studying German for?
    He knows clearly what he has come here for.   
arrive at得出，做出，达到
    The two parties finally arrived at an agreement in the end.  
apply to 适用于
    This law does not apply to foreign companies.   
divide up(between/among)分配，分享，分担
    They don’t know how to divide up the work.   
base on/upon以……基础，把基础……放在
    This film is based on a novel by a famous writer.