English Gaelic Dictionary
Many people use online dictionaries. These take many forms. One popular type is a language to language work like an English Gaelic dictionary. These are more like translators than dictionaries.
In the old days in language if someone wanted an English Gaelic dictionary they would have a book. People would find their word to see the translation. For instance a person would find the phrase where is the airport to get the translation. Sometimes people would look up things the wrong way and come up with words that really didn’t make sense in the context they were spoken.
An online English Gaelic dictionary is an automated translator. It allows people to enter in phrases, words, or even a whole block of text . The translation is complete in seconds. A web site can even be translated except for any images or text as graphics.
In the early Internet days surfers browsed to the Babelfish English Gaelic dictionary. Alta Vista now owns it. Many people used it. People love new technology. It was often used by people who chatted with others who spoke different languages. The translations weren’t always terrific.
One test of the English Gaelic dictionary was to translate one way then back to the original. The result was sometimes a whole new sentence or text. For example translating the phrase I want a cake from language A to language B and then back to language A might result in something like a cake is mine. This was a good way to come up with alternate versions of a sentence or paragraph, but it proved the translation wasn’t really up to par.
Recently Google has come up with a translation service that includes an English Gaelic dictionary. Google’s service is superior to the old one. Translate to ten different languages and then back – the text will be the same. Now people can’t perform rewrites of sentences and paragraphs. But they may be receiving better translations.
In ancient times there were scholars would perform translations. An English Gaelic dictionary was unheard of. Now you can feel like a king thanks to the Internet.
January 20, 2009
Italian Dictionary
An Italian dictionary isn’t a dictionary that will mention only the terms spaghetti and Italian sausage. It can list Italian words or translate into Italian.
Some websites have an Italian dictionary which includes Italian words and then their English translations. When using these dictionaries keep in mind that the Italian language only has 21 letters in its alphabet it does not have the letter J, K, W, X or Y. Don’t look for Italian words that begin with those letters.
Let’s take a look at a few words as shown in an Italian dictionary. Under a there is abate, meaning an abbot. That’s a person who leads a monastery. This name is used in many religious traditions including Christianity. The title can also be given to a clergyman who is not necessarily the head of the monastery.
Antarctico is also in the Italian dictionary. The English translation is Antarctic. It’s the continent furthest south. It’s on the South Pole. The Greek word from which it comes means opposite of the north. That’s interesting.
In 1959 twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty. 46 countries currently adhere to it. The treaty prohibits military action in the Antarctic. It also prohibits mineral mining. The purpose of the treaty is to support scientific research and to protect the ecology of the area. 4000 scientists work there. Such information would be found in an Encyclopedia rather than an Italian dictionary.
Mafia isn’t found inside an Italian dictionary. Malavita is in there. The word refers to the underworld. Another name for the Italian mafia is the Cosa Nostra. It’s a secret society with roots in Sicily. It became prominent in the mid 1800’s. When Italians immigrated into the United States an offshoot of this organization was formed on the East Coast. The term mafia in America is used to refer to all Italian organized crime, rather than just Sicilian.
An Italian dictionary contains autoritratto. That is self portrait in English. Here the root auto can be seen in its meaning is clear – own self. The automobile moves on its own.
A look through an Italian dictionary can be quite interesting. That’s because the language contains many of the groups we use for our English words, taken from the Latin or Greek.
Oxford Dictionary
The Oxford dictionary is called the definitive record of the English language. It has a stellar reputation.
The Oxford dictionary has been around for over 100 years. It was founded in London in 1857. The Philological society determined that current English-language dictionaries weren’t complete. Their plan was to begin from square one. The project was much larger than they first thought.
The development of the Oxford dictionary had taken a big step in 1879 when the society made an agreement with the Oxford University press to begin work on a new dictionary of the English language. The New English Dictionary was the name they selected. It would contain 6400 pages in four volumes. The plan was to cover the language from 1150 AD to present. They thought it would take 10 years to complete.
This Oxford dictionary was as far as ant in five years. Clearly they were behind schedule. Part of the reason that it was taking so long was that the English language constantly evolves. While working on new words they were constantly changing the descriptions of the old ones. All this had to be done when they continued to look at words from the previous seven centuries
The Oxford dictionary continued to develop over the next four decades. Additional editors joined the team. Now the work had 10 volumes. It covered 400,000 words. It quickly became the ultimate authority on the English language. It only took 40 years to complete.
It wasn’t even in people’s hands before the editors began revising the Oxford dictionary. In 1933 a supplement was published in the dictionary had expanded to 12 volumes. The next revision came in 1957. That work went on until 1972 when four more volumes were added.
In 1982 the task of bringing the Oxford dictionary into the modern world began. It was digitized. The cost of this project is $13.5 million. It took five years to complete. The result of this electronic transfer was a second edition published in 1989. This printed version is 20 volumes containing a total of 22,000 pages.
The Oxford dictionary later was published on CD-ROM, and is now available online. What an interesting journey from concept to the present.
January 19, 2009
Medical Dictionary
Medical professionals often find a medical dictionary to be very useful. This book covers medicine thoroughly. They include glossaries for quick searches. But the best versions are found online.
There was a vision to make a medical dictionary for non medical professionals. That is, something aimed at the regular person. Many web sites have popped up to fill this need. They contain not only the definitions of many medical terms, but searches of conditions based on symptoms. Space where their arm used to be, for instance, would indicate their arm has been removed.
But be careful when looking in this type of medical dictionary. Diagnosing a condition takes a lot of knowledge and practice. Some common symptoms can apply to a variety of different diseases. It’s very easy to make a mistake. For example someone may think that a pain in the chest is a heart attack. It could be a pulled muscle. Always consult a doctor if experiencing chest pains.
This medical dictionary can cause a person to panic. It could also lead people to having arguments with doctors. But it is good to have some information, and to be familiar with the things that your doctor might be thinking or doing to treat you.
A medical dictionary can be used to look up medical terms. Many families have copies which they consult before seeing a doctor. In this matter this type of dictionary was very much like the online sites.
Looking at a medical dictionary we can define and learn about many medical terms. The book tells us a pain in the head is a headache. No kidding! Look up the term cancer and the definition is a malignant tumor or unlimited growth which expands by invasion and by metastasis. A basic medical dictionary would have these types of descriptions.
A more detailed medical dictionary has more detailed results. There are many types of cancers, they have many different causes and many different treatments . For example there is a cancer cluster. This is an area in which many people have cancer – more than expected in a certain time frame. If such a cancer cluster exists then medical personnel begin looking for outside causes.
Use a medical dictionary wisely, in addition to regular doctor visits.