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, 1902]] An encyclopedia, '''encyclopaedia''' or (traditionally) '''encyclopæ See Also: American and British English spelling differences#Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ) GENERAL The word ''encyclopedia'' comes from the Classical Greek (pronounced "enkyklios paideia"), literally, a " {Link without Title} rounded education," meaning "a general knowledge." Though the notion of a compendium of knowledge dates back thousands of years, the term was first used in 1541 in the title of a book by Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius , ''Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia'' (Basel, 1541). The word ''encyclopaedia'' was first used as a noun by the Croatian Encyclopedist Pavao Skalić in the title of his book, ''Encyclopaedia seu orbis disciplinarum tam sacrarum quam prophanarum epistemon'' (Encyclopaedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines, Basel, 1559). Several encyclopedias have names that include the suffix ''-p(a)edia'', e.g., Banglapedia (on matters relevant for Bengal). Characteristics The encyclopedia as we recognize it today was developed from the , or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave the reader still lacking in Understanding the meaning or significance of a term, and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge. To address those needs, an encyclopedia treats each subject in more depth and conveys the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject or Discipline , given the overall length of the particular work. An encyclopedia also often includes many Map s and Illustration s, as well as Bibliography and Statistics . Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts. Four major elements define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production.
Some works titled "dictionaries" are actually similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the '' Dictionary Of The Middle Ages '', the '' Dictionary Of American Naval Fighting Ships '', and '' Black's Law Dictionary ''). The '' Macquarie Dictionary '', Australia 's national dictionary, became an Encyclopedic Dictionary after its first edition in recognition of the use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns. HISTORY , 1728]] The idea of collecting all of the world's knowledge into a single work was an elusive vision for centuries. Many writers of antiquity (such as Aristotle ) attempted to write comprehensively about all human knowledge. One of the most significant of these early encyclopedists was Pliny The Elder (first century CE), who wrote the Naturalis Historia (Natural History), a 37-volume account of the natural world that was widely copied in western Europe for much of the Middle Ages. The first Christian encyclopedia was Cassiodorus ' ''Institutiones'' (560 CE) which inspired St. Isidore Of Seville 's '' Etymologiae '' (636) which became the most influential encyclopedia of the Early Middle Ages .See "Encyclopedia" in '' Dictionary Of The Middle Ages ''. The '' Bibliotheca '' by the Patriarch Photius (9th century) was the earliest Byzantine work that could be called an encyclopedia. Bartholomeus De Glanvilla 's ''De proprietatibus rerum'' (1240) was the most widely read and quoted encyclopedia in the High Middle Ages while Vincent Of Beauvais 's ''Speculum Majus'' (1260) was the most ambitious encyclopedia in the late-medieval period at over 3 million words. The Early Muslim Compilations Of Knowledge in the Middle Ages included many comprehensive works, and much development of what we now call Scientific Method , Historical Method , and Citation . About year 960, the Brethren Of Purity of Basra P.D. Wightman (1953), ''The Growth of Scientific Ideas'' were engaged in their Encyclopedia Of The Brethren Of Purity . Notable works include Abu Bakr Al-Razi 's encyclopedia of science, the Mutazilite Al-Kindi 's prolific output of 270 books, and Ibn Sina 's medical encyclopedia, which was a standard reference work for centuries. Also notable are works of Universal History (or sociology) from Asharite s, Al-Tabri , Al-Masudi , Tabari 's '' History Of The Prophets And Kings '', Ibn Rustah , Al-Athir , and Ibn Khaldun , whose Muqadimmah contains cautions regarding trust in written records that remain wholly applicable today. These scholars had an incalculable influence on methods of research and editing, due in part to the Islamic practice of Isnad which emphasized fidelity to written record, checking sources, and skeptical inquiry. The enormous encyclopedic work in China of the '' Four Great Books Of Song '', compiled by the 11th century during the early Song Dynasty ( 960 - 1279 ), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the '' Prime Tortoise Of The Record Bureau '', amounted to 9.4 million Chinese Characters in 1000 written volumes. There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo ( 1031 - 1095 ) with his '' Dream Pool Essays '' of 1088, the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen (active 1290 - 1333 ) with his ''Nong Shu'' of 1313, and the written ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' of Song Yingxing ( 1587 - 1666 ), the latter of whom was termed the " Diderot Of China " by British historian Joseph Needham .Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 102. The Chinese Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty oversaw the compilation of the Yongle Encyclopedia , one of the largest encyclopedias in history, which was completed in 1408 and comprised over 11,000 handwritten volumes, 370 million Chinese characters, of which only about 400 remain today. In the succeeding dynasty, emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty personally composed 40,000 poems as part of a 4.7 million page library in 4 divisions, including thousands of essays, called the Siku Quanshu which is probably the largest collection of books in the world. It is instructive to compare his title for this knowledge, ''Watching the waves in a Sacred Sea'' to a Western-style title for all knowledge. Encyclopedic works, both in imitation of Chinese encyclopedias and as independent works of their own origin, have been known to exist in Japan since the ninth century CE. These works were all hand copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it. 17th-19th centuries , 1773]] The beginnings of the modern idea of the general-purpose, widely distributed printed encyclopedia precede the 18th-century Encyclopedist s. However, Chambers' '' Cyclopaedia, Or Universal Dictionary Of Arts And Sciences ,'' and the '' Encyclopédie '', '' Encyclopædia Britannica '' and the '' Conversations-Lexikon '' were the first to realize the form we would recognize today, with a comprehensive scope of topics, discussed in depth and organized in an accessible, systematic method. The term encyclopaedia was coined by 15th-century humanists who misread copies of their texts of Pliny and Quintilian , and combined the two Greek words "''enkuklios paideia''" into one word. The English physician and philosopher, Sir Thomas Browne , specifically employed the word ''encyclopaedia'' as early as 1646 in the preface to the reader to describe his '' Pseudodoxia Epidemica '' or ''Vulgar Errors'', a series of refutations of common errors of his age. Browne structured his encyclopaedia upon the time-honoured schemata of the Renaissance, the so-called 'scale of creation' which ascends a hierarchical ladder via the mineral, vegetable, animal, human, planetary and cosmological worlds. Browne's compendium went through no less than five editions, each revised and augmented, the last edition appearing in 1672. ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'' found itself upon the bookshelves of many educated European readers for throughout the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries it was translated into the French , Dutch and German languages as well as Latin . John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English '' Lexicon Technicum .'' Organized alphabetically, it sought to explain not merely the terms used in the arts and sciences, but the arts and sciences themselves. Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710. Its emphasis was on science and, at about 1200 pages, its scope was more that of an encyclopedic dictionary than a true encyclopedia. Harris himself considered it a dictionary; the work is one of the first technical dictionaries in any language. Ephraim Chambers published his '' Cyclopaedia '' in 1728. It included a broad scope of subjects, used an alphabetic arrangement, relied on many different contributors and included the innovation of cross-referencing other sections within articles. Chambers has been referred to as the father of the modern encyclopedia for this two-volume work. A French translation of Chambers' work inspired the '' Encyclopédie '', perhaps the most famous early encyclopedia, notable for its scope, the quality of some contributions, and its political and cultural impact in the years leading up to the French Revolution . The ''Encyclopédie'' was edited by Jean Le Rond D'Alembert and Denis Diderot and published in 17 volumes of articles, issued from 1751 to 1765, and 11 volumes of illustrations, issued from 1762 to 1772. Five volumes of supplementary material and a two volume index, supervised by other editors, were issued from 1776 to 1780 by Charles Joseph Panckoucke . |
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