Word books

Much as I love dictionaries, I love a thesaurus better. Not a thesaurus in dictionary format - but a real thesaurus, arranged in categories, the way Roget did it nearly 200 years ago (compiled in 1805 and published in 1852).  "Proper" thesauruses are a little more trouble to use, because you have to go to the index first - and choose which definition of the word you are actually looking for a synonym for - but then you have similar concepts right there at hand, so that you can choose exactly the right word.

I found one such, published in 1962 (which is also quite a while ago now!) recently in an Oxfam bookshop - what a bargain for £2.49, hardback and all. My other version, published in the 1930s and updated by the grandson of Roget, has an interesting page layout, in which pairs of words (opposites) start at the same point on the page - for instance, obstinacy and tergiversation; perspicuity and obscurity; conciseness and diffuseness -

Via a little research on the idea of a thesaurus (the word comes from the Greek, meaning "treasure store"),  I found the Historical Thesaurus of English project, which presents the vocabulary of English from Old English to the present arranged in detailed semantic categories. It is based on the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and was published in two volumes as the Historical Thesaurus of the OED by Oxford University Press in 2009. It offers "a complete sense inventory for English".

Here is an overview of the classification:

1. The External World

01. The world



01.01. The earth


01.02. Life


01.03. Physical sensibility


01.04. Matter


01.05. Existence in time and space


01.06. Relative properties


01.07. The supernatural

2. The Mental World

02. The mind



02.01. Mental capacity


02.02. Emotion


02.03. Philosophy


02.04. Aesthetics


02.05. Will/faculty of will


02.06. Refusal/denial


02.07. Having/possession


02.08. Language

3. The Social World

03. Society



03.01. Society/the community


03.02. Inhabiting/dwelling


03.03. Armed hostility


03.04. Authority


03.05. Morality


03.06. Education


03.07. Faith


03.08. Communication


03.09. Travel/travelling


03.10. Occupation/work

03.11. Leisure

See a sample page - from the Emotions section, lovers and loving, here. Once, an elegant love letter was called a "nectar epistle" ... and whatever happened to "kissing kind" - meaning, being kind/friendly enough to receive a kiss -?

The HTOED usefully also gives definitions of words. It runs to 4,000 pages - and is incorporated into the OED online version.