Today’s page looks at the indispensable thesaurus and the man who created it.
Have you ever found yourself writing an essay or school report, or just sending an e-mail to a friend, and you’re suddenly stuck looking for just the right word? In the English language, there’s more than one way to convey an idea. But sometimes, we need a little help in choosing just the right words.
Enter Roget’s Thesaurus, a collection of words and phrases that are arranged by idea rather than in alphabetical order (although alphabetical versions are available).
This is the cousin of the indispensable dictionary, and is a must-have for any student. The thesaurus, along with the dictionary and the Bible, are considered to be the most important books ever written.
The first draft of what would become the thesaurus was written in 1805, two years before Noah Webster began work on the dictionary. The thesaurus itself was published in 1852 by English physician and lecturer Peter Mark Roget to help people express their written ideas. It was published when Roget was 73, some 47 years after he had first created it.
Roget was born in London on Jan. 18, 1779. His father was Swiss and his mother was English. He graduated from Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland at 19, and spent the next 40 years teaching and practicing medicine.
In addition to his great book, he also created an early version of the slide rule, and contributed to encyclopedias. His interest in optics even led him to seek ways to improve the kaleidoscope.
Roget was not the first one to recognize the need for a publication like the thesaurus. The first thesaurus-like compilation appeared in the 10th-century as the “Amera Cosha,” which uses the Sanskrit language. This version, however, was a bit confusing. Roget favored a version created in the 17th century by Bishop John Wilkins.
Roget used natural history as a guide in his version. For example, words were divided into categories, just as plants and animals are grouped into families and then further branched into different species.
The massive project could have taken a lifetime to complete, but by doing so at the young age of 26, it was just another feather in the cap for Roget during his long and accomplished career.
After keeping his master work under wraps for 47 years, he finally published it, and it has been in print ever since.
Just what is a thesaurus? It’s a collection of synonyms, different words that have identical or similar meaning. Common examples include:
-Baby and infant
-Dead and deceased
-Buy and purchase
-Student and pupil
The thesaurus also contains idioms, expressions that don’t literally mean what their individual words say. For example, the term “break bread” is an idiom that means to eat.
There are also variants — words with more than one spelling. For example, the word naive can also be spelled as naif.
A thesaurus also contains homographs, which are words that are spelled the same as another but are different in origin, meaning and sometimes pronunciation. For example, the word “bound” can be used as an adjective meaning obligated, as in “bound by duty.” It can be used as a verb, as in “he bound his hand and feet.”
However you choose to say it, the thesaurus is an indispensable, crucial, vital, most-important and essential tool for every student. Be sure to keep it right next to your dictionary. Your vocabulary and your writing will improve every time you use it.
Today’s lesson fulfills the following New York standards: ELA 1c, 3c, 3d, 4a, 5a.
NEW YORK POST ACTIVITIES
Use the Internet or other reference source to learn about synonyms.
Write a sentence and try to use two different, but similar meaning words. For example: The runner won the race with his great (speed); (swiftness).
Make your own list of synonyms.
select an article from today’s paper and replace nouns, verbs and adjectives with other words that mean the same. Is the message more clear, or less,with your replacements?
Teachers: For more information about the New York?Post’s Classroom Extra program, contact Customer Service at 1-800-552-7678. Today’s lesson can be found on The Learning Center at nypost.com.