What an Exemplary Dictionary!
I had, for some years now, been considering getting a new dictionary as I had acquired my "Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, College Edition" (World Publishing, 1966) some forty years ago. (This is not to be confused with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition which is published by Merriam-Webster, a company which has been in the dictionary publishing business since 1831, and which this article is about.)
I had seen the two volume 'condensed' Oxford English Dictionary, you know, the boxed set with the magnifying glass in that little drawer, and in searching for that on eBay and Amazon, I discovered the newer version of that which is called The Shorter OED. Well, in reading the reviews of that tome, err, those tomes, I came across a reviewer that recommended this Merriam-Webster as being both complete and up-to-date. I also thought about where I would put the two volume OED and that I might have to acquire a stand to facilitate the reading of it. Then there was the matter of the price, so I was persuaded to order the Merriam-Webster which I got for a tenth of the price of the OED and is, IMHO, worth three times more than what I paid for it.
My new dictionary has about 23 thousand MORE entries than my old one (165K vs. 142K). My, how the language has grown and how the technology has changed. A searchable CD-ROM is included with the book as is a year's free online subscription to Merriam-Webster's web site which includes not only the dictionary but also a thesaurus, an encyclopedia, a Spanish-English dictionary and audio pronunciations.
After the title page and preface, the 1,664 page printed work begins with 40 pages devoted to the thorough explanation both of how to use this masterpiece and where our words came from along with five pages on how to pronounce them. An abbreviated list of pronunciation symbols appears at the bottom of each right hand page supplemented by a one page guide of "Pronunciation Symbols". This is set on page 40a, facing the first page of the dictionary proper, and is also conveniently repeated on the rear inside fly-leaf just ahead of which is another one page convenience, the index. This index allows you to quickly locate over a hundred items such as the table of weights and measures, chemical element tables, Jewish calendar tables, etc.
Just after the last entry, zymosan, begins an addendum of some 164 pages which begins with six pages of commonly used foreign words and phrases, followed by 44 pages of Biographical Names, then a section, double that length, of Geographical Names, several pages of Signs and Symbols and a brief Handbook of Style concluding with a listing of the formal Forms of Address.
The aforementioned fly-leaf is a heavier stock paper than the Bible paper on which the rest is printed. Not that I am complaining about the thinness of the pages of Bible paper, au contraire, it is to them we owe the relative lightness of the tome which allows it to be easily hand-held for some time--no stand required. Mind you, I still hanker for the Shorter OED, but I'd rather spend that money to spread the Gospel and help feed hungry.Read full review
