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128 : Śramaņa/July-December 2002
general name for an alphabetically ordered wordbook, consisting of words and usually idiomatic phrases, combining forms and affixes, customarily listed in alphabetical order and followed variously, by information about their grammatical forms and functions, etymologies, meanings, synonyms, antonyms and illustrative quotations, sometimes dated to show the earliest known uses in specified senses. Although the dictionary is thus a general name for an alphabetically ordered wordbook, the term is distinguished from encyclopaedia, concordance, glossary, gazetteer, thesaurus and index. An encyclopaedia is a publication often in many volumes, containing articles of essential information about vis, ially all areas of knowledge, or about a particular area of knowledge, comprehensively treated. These articles are usually arranged alphabetically by topic and cross-references are ordinarily employed, together with an index. A dictionary that contains information characteristic of an encyclopaedia is called encyclopaedic. A concordance is an alphabetic list of the locutions; usually the principal words in a book. A glossary is a collection or list, usually in alphabetic order, of textual glosses or of terms relating to a particular area of knowledge or usage, often followed by definitions, annotations or both. A gazetteer is a dictionary of geographical names. A reference book of alphabetically ordered names of eminent persons, followed by informative articles about them, and is usually called a biographical dictionary. An index is a list, usually of alphabetic, of locutions, topics, names, titles; etc. especially of those dealt with or mentioned in a particular publication to which it refers.
History of dictionaries: The earliest form of the dictionaries is available in the form of dictionary of words or lexicon. Today, the art of making dictionary comes under the purview of lexicographythe compiling or writing of the dictionaries. Among the oldest works in lexicography in Sanskrit are the collections of Vedic terms, explained by Yāska in his etymological treatise, the Nirukta. These collections differ in many respects from the dictionaries, the Kośas of latter period. Firstly, as regards the purpose, that of the Nighantu was the interpretation of the sacred texts. In the case of the Košas, it was to supply words to poets and writers and to acquaint them with their precise meanings and gender. The second pertains to their being
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