Language Resources
English Language Dictionaries from 
Elsevier Publishing Group

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A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
E. Klein

Elsevier's Dictionary of Communicative Abbreviations
In English with definitions
R.A. Letusé La O, Havana, Cuba

A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language

E. Klein

    Although during the last sixty years philology has attained a high degree of development, looking at the literature available, Etymology appears only to have reached the level of philology at the turn of the century. This dictionary is the first major work of its kind in the 20th century, and as such, embodies the findings of modern philological scholarship. For example, full reference is made to Tocharian, the extinct language rediscovered at the end of the Nineteenth Century which often provides the key to the important transition form between the Old-Indian and the Indo-European group of languages to which English belongs. Several hundred words previously defined as being "of unknown etymology" are fully analyzed. 

    The etymology of words of Semitic origin in the English language is given, the transliteration of Semitic words is based on a concept which renders exactly every consonant, vowel and diacritical sign. Hybrids are not only referred to, but in many cases a new, correctly formed word is suggested. Special attention is paid to loan translations (important elements in the cultural interrelationship between the nations) especially in regard to their passage from one language to another. The dictionary also provides the etymologies of proper and mythological names. Exhaustive cross-referencing, allows the reader to trace all words derived from one and the same base.

The American Translators Association Chronicle

"Aside from its outstanding value and importance to students of linguistics, Dr. Klein's work is a source of fascinating reading and browsing to anyone with an interest in language."

Year 1971   7th reprint 2000

• ISBN: 0-444-40930-0
• Hardbound, 870 pages  #
• 7th reprint 2000
• Price: 
  • USD 193

R.A. Letusé La O, Havana, Cuba

This book will be invaluable in overcoming the growing problems posed - in English - by "communicative abbreviations", autonomous entities originating in a noticeable reduction in the phonic corpus of the words or phrases they have stemmed from, as compared to graphical or standard abbreviations.

The dictionary, having more than 5,700 entries, not only provides insight into etymological aspects, but also accurate meanings and contextualized samples mostly taken from original sources.

This guide to this trend of the language covers extensive spectra of subject areas and will surely be an effective tool in the hands of English scholars.

International Journal for Language & Documentation

"...the editor... has genuinely stumbled on a neglected area of lexicography."

Translatio-Nouvelles de la Fit

"...Each entry has four constituents: abbreviation, etmology, meaning and example. ...it is also stated whether the headword is colloquial, vulgar, slang, etc. ...it might be especially useful for lexicographers who want to study the field of (communicative) abbreviations. "

Year 1998   

• ISBN: 0-444-82889-3
• Hardbound, 372 pages #
• approx. 5,700 terms
• Price: 
  • USD 157

Editor-in-Chief

R.E. Asher, University of Edinburgh, UK

Co-ordinating Editor

J.M.Y. Simpson, University of Glasgow, UK

The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics meets the need for a truly international work of reference and reviews current knowledge in the fields of linguistics and language studies. The work makes a systematic effort to take into account the many different views and perspectives encountered in research and thinking in the fields of linguistics and language studies, emphasizing the multidisciplinary nature of the subject. Alphabetically organized, the work consists of ten volumes, each of more than 500 large format pages, including an index volume which contains a contributor index, a three-level subject index, a systematic outline of the Encyclopedia, an article on the bibliographic sources of information in linguistics and language studies and a glossary of technical terms used in the field. In planning the presentation of the Encyclopedia the Editorial Board and the Publisher have considered the wide range of potential users, including not only specialist research workers but also those individuals and institutions in need of information in this diverse field.

For faculty, language specialists, researchers and students.

Year 1993   

• ISBN: 0-08-035943-4
• Hardbound;   5,782 pages #
• Price: 
  • USD 3,674.00

Selected articles:

15000 lit. refs approx.

The Times Higher Education Supplement, Raphael Salkie, University of Brighton, 1994

"Since David Crystal's admirable Encyclopedia of Language showed the way, several other large reference works on language have appeared. This one is by far the most comprehensive yet, and in some ways the most successful... This is not a repository of superficial information about language but a substantial resource that will amply repay the effort anyone invests in consulting it. This is largely due to the size of the entries, which are long enough to do more than scrape the surface without being so long that they become wearisome. The editors deserve praise for the good judgement that they have displayed in this respect, for it has enabled the contributors to present scholarly inquiry into language in an elegant way... The skill of the contributors is remarkable... There is no doubt in my mind that much of the content will be superb teaching material... The editors have clearly made a genuine effort to include not only the core areas of linguistics, but also interdisciplinary fields such as the sociology of language and linguistic computing...the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics remains a magnificent achievement. Ronald Asher and Seumas Simpson have given us an outstanding work of reference and a superb portrayal of the vast scholarly endeavour to understand human language. All of us in the field are in their debt. "

Choice, J.R. Luttell, Princeton University, 1994

"The editors intend their work simply to be the most authoritative, up-to-date, comprehensive, international reference source in the field. There can be little doubt of its having achieved that goal. It owes its authority to its distinguished editorial boards and the 1,000 specialists who contributed articles. That it is as current as possible in a rapidly changing field is due in part to a policy of recruiting specialists "working at the frontiers of their particular discipline." Although comprehensiveness is difficult to achieve in a field as fundamental as language, the editors have succeeded not only in treating thoroughly the standard "core" areas of linguistics (e.g., morphology, phonology, semantics) but in attempting to include more "peripheral" areas as well (e.g., speech pathology, speech technology). A distinguishing feature of the work is its interdisciplinary nature; significant space is devoted to aspects of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and philosophy that impinge on language. 
    The encyclopedia reveals its international character both in its attempt to cover the contributions of all civilizations (though with a pronounced emphasis on the West) and in the fact that the authors come from 75 countries. The intended audience is academic and professional, though the style is accessible to general readers. Articles range in length from a few sentences to a dozen double-columned pages and cover academic fields, linguistic topics, languages, countries, and individual scholars. Examples and illustrations are numerous, there are cross-references, and each article concludes with a short bibliography. A superb subject index is accompanied by a name index, glossary, list of the world's languages, and many other useful lists and appendixes. Although there is substantial overlap with International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, ed. by William Bright (Ch, Sep'92), this monumental reference work is noticeably broader in scope. Enthusiastically recommended for academic and larger public libraries. "

Wilson Library Bulletin, 1994

"This does exactly what a specialized encyclopedia should-it takes the knowledge of a discipline and presents it in such a way that outsiders and new-comers can comprehend that knowledge and use it to explore the field in greater depth on their own or through directed study. Readable, comprehensive, and current, The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics will be the field's standard reference for a generation. "

Journal of Linguistics, William Bright, 1994

"This is now the definitive and indispensable scholarly reference publication, on all branches of linguistics for any library where linguistics is taken seriously. "

Language, Bernard Comrie, 1994

"Overall, my assessment is definitely positive... I should emphasize that I find myself continually referring to its pages as a source of information and interest. I have learned a lot from it, and will continue to do so. "

Journal of Pragmatics, 1994

"... an ambitious and much-needed work, surpassing in its extent as well as in quality all previous encyclopedias... makes its treatmentof language and linguistics complete par excellence, and interdisciplinary to an extent which has never been achieved before. "

Language in Society, Dick Hudson, 1994

"I have been asked to review just the coverage of sociolinguistics in ELL, so the first question is, how much of these ten volumes is given over to our subject? It actually gets a very fair share... There are some really excellent articles, which combine scholarship and clarity of thought with clarity of expression. I should like to pick out a few examples that struck me during my travels through ELL (in which I should repeat that I still haven't visited all the sociolinguistics articls): 'Socialization', 'Code-switching and mixing', 'Diglossia', 'Gender and language' (and 'Sex differences'), 'Code sociolinguistic', 'Mutual intelligibility', 'Sociology of language', 'Pidgins, creoles and change', 'Borrowing', 'Areal linguistics', 'Kinship terminology', 'Taboo words' and 'Primate communication'. Any of these can be read with both pleasure and interest, and could safely be put into the hands of students... This review has praised the index (which is probably the most important part of any encyclopedia) and many of the articles...will become a standard reference both in scholarship and in student essays. "

Historiographia Linguistica, 1994

"...the history of linguistics is well represented in this most recent and so far largest encyclopedia of the sciences of language."

Diachronica, 1994

"...the coverage of the field is impressive, especially if compared to similar recent encyclopedic works of so-called "state-of-the-art" surveys of linguistic science."

Excerpta Medica, Edward Erazo, 1995

"...the most comprehensive and ambitious work of its kind ever produced.... ELL succeeds in covering every imaginable topic in linguistics and related subject areas. It also succeeds in meeting its aim of being authoritative, up-to-date, comprehensive, and international in scope.... This work will become the reference of choice for meeting the needs of a wide range of users, including specialized researchers and instructors as well as students of language studies and linguistics. This magnificent set fills a long-standing void in reference collections. Enthusiastically recommended. "

Computational Linguistics, Vol 21, No 2, Graeme Hirst, University of Toronto, 1994

"Since it arrived, it has been used as an oracle whenever a linguistic question arose that I couldn't answer from my own knowledge.... Everyone who is a linguist of any flavor at all should have a copy of this encyclopedia...completely eclipses its main rival, Oxford University Press's International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (Bright 1992). "

Times Library Supplement, April 1995

"The want of a proper encyclopedia of language studies has been felt for many years. It need be felt no longer. The lacuna has now been filled by these ten volumes from Pergamon Press, and - it must be said straight away - filled more solidly and satisfactorily than one had any right to expect. Every serious university library should have a copy, or else its students have a reasonable case for saying that the librarian and library committee ought to be sacked en masse Although beyond the pocket of most individual scholars, it is a bargain for institutions. "

Language Sciences, Talbot J. Taylor, 1995

"...ELL will henceforth be recognized as the primary linguistics encyclopedia (in any language): the one that every university or public library must own. From now on, other encyclopedias will be seen as merely complementary to ELL.... Naturally, ELL is an extremely useful book. The coverage is as nearly complete as one could imagine possible. Virtually every article ends with a list of bibliographical references to the most important publications on its topic. The encyclopedia can thus serve as an excellent research guide for students writing papers or for anyone else entering an area with which they are not already familiar...ELL will make an important-and equally therapeutic-contribution to the professional intellectual practice we call 'the study of language'. "

NEW! IN 2003

Elsevier's Dictionary of Linguistics
In English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German

J.L. De Lucca, Department of Linguistics, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The dictionary will contain terms covering the following fields and subfields: anthropological linguistics, applied linguistics, comparative linguistics, computational linguistics, contrastive analysis, language acquisition, diachronic linguistics, functions of language, lexicography, phonetics, phonology, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, semantics, sociolinguistics, structural linguistics, syntax, systemic linguistics, tagmemics, text linguistics, transformational generative grammar.

Year 2003   

• ISBN: 0-444-50497-4
• Hardbound, approx. 500 pages #
• In preparation
• approx. 4,500 terms

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ANY BOOK PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH OR IN SPANISH!
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