Category Dictionary

The Junior Anchor English-Japanese Japanese-English Dictionary (2001)

Bran

General Details

Title: ジュニア・アンカー英和・和英事典 第四版 (The Junior Anchor English-Japanese Japanese-English Dictionary 4th Edition)
Volumes: 1
Language: Japanese
Publisher: 学習研究社 (Gakken)
Year: 2001
Pages: 1640

This volume is two dictionaries bound together as one; they are each separately paginated and can be bought as separate parts.
The target audience for these dictionaries is a Japanese middle school student learning English as a foreign language. The front endpapers have a colorful representation of the English alphabet, and the back endpapers feature political maps of the United States and the United Kingdom.

The first section is The Junior Anchor English-Japanese Dictionary (ジュニア・アンカー英和辞典) 4th Edition. It is 816 pages long. There is a section at the beginning of 56 color, glossy pages which consist of a visual dictionary (linked to the included audio CD), conversation guide, holiday guide, and a photo guide to the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. There is a comprehensive guide on how to use the dictionary (meant more for the parent), followed by a list of all of the illustrations, photographs, and diagrams found within the main text. There is also a list of grammatical help boxes (e.g. telling the difference between remember doing and remember to do), conversation guides, and fun wordplay sections (riddles, jokes, anagrams, palindromes, and tongue twisters). The dictionary contains approximately 12,800 entries and idioms. The most important 101 words for middle school students of English to learn are marked with three asterisks, the next top 406 words are marked with two asterisks, and the remaining top 1,000 words are marked with a single asterisk. The main text of the dictionary is followed by a simplified how-to-use guide for the student, with plenty of cartoon illustration, a guide to English pronunciation, a simplified English grammar, and a collection of well-known English children's songs (e.g. Old MacDonald Had a Farm) which all have recordings on the included audio CD. Finally, the dictionary has a guide on composing letters in English and a table of irregular verb forms.

The Junior Anchor Japanese-English Dictionary (ジュニア・アンカー和英辞典) 4th Edition follows. It is 736 pages long. It also has a short section of 32 color, glossy pages at its beginning, with further conversation guides, a guide to letter writing, and a bilingual introduction to Japan. This includes a map with landmarks, a guide to the seasons, cultural topics, food, and a guide to Japan's school system. There is then a guide on how to use the dictionary (very similar to the one of the preceding dictionary). This dictionary has approximately 14,300 entries. Entries with two asterisks (there are no three asterisk words here) make up the 460 most important words, and entries with a single asterisk make up the most important 1,000 words. There are numerous conversation guides scattered throughout the main dictionary. The main dictionary is followed by a guide to English as used in the classroom, a brief guide to English verb endings, and the same table of irregular verb forms from the English-Japanese dictionary.

These two dictionaries, though meant for middle-school Japanese students, would also work well as a dictionary for an early learner of Japanese who has already been introduced to some basic kanji. There are no furigana provided with the kanji. The example sentences are very short and grammatically simple, and the asterisks accompanying some of the words provide a guide to what constitutes a basic working vocabulary. There are not as many illustrations in this dictionary as there are in others, but the ones that are there are extremely well chosen and provide clarity to minute word usage distinctions.

Sample Entries

I try to look up "umbrella" and "Saint Louis" in all of the reference works I feature on here in order to provide a common basis of comparison between them. Although there are some proper nouns in this dictionary (e.g. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chicago, Zeus), "St. Louis" doesn't make the cut. It is included on the political map of the United States, and a photo of the Gateway Arch is shown in the English-Japanese Dictionary's color page section, but it does not have a proper entry of its own. "Umbrella" can be found in the English-Japanese dictionary on page 697:

*um·brel·la [ʌmbrélə アンブレラ] 名 (福 umbrellas [-z]) かさ、こうもりがさ、雨がさ（➤女性用の「日がさ」はparasol）.
put up an umbrella　かさをさす。
Take this umbrella with you.　このかさを持っていきなさい。

"Umbrella" (or, rather, かさ) can be found on page 143 in the Japanese-English dictionary:

*かさ　傘　（雨がさ）an umbrella [アンブレラ];　（女性用の日がさ）　a parasol [パラソ（ー）ル]
▶折りたたみがさ　a folding umbrella
▶かさをさす　open [put up] an umbrella
▶雨が降るといけないから、かさを持っていきなさい。Take an umbrella with you in case it rains.
かさ立て　an umbrella stand

The Great Japanese Dictionary (1989)

Bran

General Details

Title: 日本語大辞典
Volumes: 1
Language: Japanese
Publisher: 講談社
Year: 1989
Pages: 2304

This is a pretty heavy book. The full title is 講談社　カラー版　日本語大辞典, or The Great Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Color Edition), and the pages are filled with color photographs and illustrations, so the paper is a little thicker than what is typically used in large dictionaries. This paper is super glossy as a result, making the dictionary hard to photograph. This dictionary is intended to be a comprehensive Japanese monolingual dictionary, including basic kanji information and foreign words. A sizable number of entries (but by no means all) include a simple English translation. The dictionary also contains popular and geographic names, including book titles, historical figures, etc.

At the beginning of the dictionary is an introductory essay, followed by a guide to the dictionary's features and a list of contributors and photograph sources. There is a listing of radicals and kanji by stroke order to help identify where each can be found in the main text: each kanji has a small entry within the dictionary under its primary on or Chinese reading. The ~8600 kanji listings in the dictionary proper list the radical for each character, as well as its JIS Code, stroke number, primary readings, and a very brief description of its meaning. The 154 pages of appendices following the main text include guides to modern and historical orthography, conjugation forms, letter and postcard writing, report writing, polite language, wedding speeches, funerary greetings, addressing gifts, and telephoning. There is also a guide to Chinese folk sayings, an overview of the zodiac, a guide to counters, a map of Japan and its prefectures, a timeline of Japanese literature, the Hyakunin Isshu, a guide to seasonal words, a guide to weather terms, star charts, moon phases, weights and measures, flags of the world, road signs, cartographic information, a guide to braille and sign language, an illustrated guide to traditional patterns, a swatched guide to 350 color names, and a list of alphabetic abbreviations.

Sample Entries

I try to look up the same two entries, "umbrella" and "Saint Louis," in order to provide a basis of comparison between the various reference works featured on this site. "Umbrella" (傘) can be found on page 342 (the kanji character 傘 has a separate entry on page 794 under its reading of san); the accompanying illustration shows two different family crests ("three umbrellas" and "open umbrella") and is meant to accompany the third definition:

かさ　［傘］ ① 雨・雪・日ざしなどを避けるためにかざす柄のついた用具。から傘・こうもり傘・日傘の総称。さしがさ。umbrella 用例 — をさす。数え方 一本・一張り。②①の形をしているもの。きのこの上部など。③紋所の名。開いた傘、閉じた傘、花傘などを紋章化。→図　→キノコ図

Umbrella [umbrella] ① A tool attached to a handle held aloft in order to avoid sunshine, snow, rain, etc. Generic name for the paper umbrella, Western-style umbrella, and parasol. Parasol. umbrella. Usage Example To hold an umbrella. Counter One long cylindrical thing, one set. ② A thing having the shape of ①. The top part of a mushroom, etc. ③ The name of family crests. Crest of arms like "open umbrella," "closed umbrella," "flower umbrella," etc. →Illustration　→Mushroom Illustration

The entry on "Saint Louis" can be found on page 1115:

セント・ルイス　［Saint Louis］ アメリカ中北部、ミズーリ州東部の商工業都市。ミシシッピ川とミズーリ川の合流点に発達した河港。人口四五・三万（一九八八）。

Saint Louis [Saint Louis] A commercial/industrial city in the Eastern part of the state of Missouri, in the middle-Northern part of the United States. River port developed at the confluence point of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Population 453,000 (1988).

Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1981)

Bran

Details

Title: Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged
Volumes: 3 (my copy)
Language: English
Publisher: Merriam-Webster (normally); Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (my copy)
Year: 1961 (original); 1981 (my copy - includes addenda)
Pages: 2662; my copy has 3136 split between Webster's (2662) and the Britannica World Language Dictionary (474)

There have literally been multiple books written about this dictionary and the controversy surrounding it.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary was first published in 1961 and was a complete overhaul (costing $3.5 million, or about $30 million in 2019 dollars) with a totally new editorial direction. It was this new editorial direction that caused so much noise: this dictionary, though not a historical dictionary like the Oxford English Dictionary, was crafted as a descriptive work, not a prescriptive one - it presents the language of its time as it is, not as grammarians and educators wish it to be. As editor Philip Gove wrote in the preface, "This new Merriam-Webster unabridged is the record of this language as it is written and spoken" (5a). This is what set off the alarm bells, with newspaper and magazine columns pointing out the existence of entries like ain't presented without any labels of judgment. Again from the preface: "prescriptive and canonical definitions have not been taken over nor have recommendations been followed unless confirmed by independent investigation of usage borne out by genuine citations" (4a). This lack of value judgment was presented as one of the 7 key new features of the dictionary: "(6) the recognition (by not using at all the status label colloquial) that it is impossible to know whether a word out of context is colloquial or not" (4a), and extends beyond the word list and definitions to include regional variations of pronunciation: "This edition shows as far as possible the pronunciations prevailing in general cultivated conversational usage, both informal and formal, throughout the English-speaking world. It does not attempt to dictate what that usage should be" (4a).

The dictionary begins with the above-mentioned preface and follows that up with a list of the editorial staff and consultants, explanatory notes for using the dictionary, guides to spelling and the formation of plurals and compound words, a guide to pronunciation, a note on how to formally address different people, and a list of abbreviations and special symbols used by the dictionary - actual abbreviations common to the language are given entries alongside other headwords in the main body of the text. My copy was printed in 1981 by the Encyclopædia Britannica and is bound together with a 7-language dictionary (whose editors decided, with an admittedly "arbitrary selection of languages in widest international usage and restricted to the Western World", to include Swedish and Yiddish over more widely-spoken choices). This later printing thus also includes a 50-page addenda section with new words and definitions (addenda updates are from 1966, 1971, 1976, and 1981). The number of illustrations are kept to a minimum to save space, but there are some full-page illustrations for color, constellations, ships, and trees. Generally speaking, proper names and geographical locations have been excluded from this work, as this saves space, keeps with the editorial focus on generic words, and because the editors thought encyclopedias or other reference works would be better suited for those sorts of things.

Sample Entries

In order to provide a common ground for comparison between the various reference works in this guide, I attempt to look up the same two terms in each: "umbrella" and "Saint Louis." "Umbrella" is presented with three different entries (one for each part of speech: noun, adjective, and transitive verb) in volume 3 on p. 2481:

1um·brel·la ˌəmˈbrelə also ˈ=ˌ== n -s [It ombrella, modif. (influenced by ombra shade, shadow, fr. L umbra of L umbella parasol, umbrella, dim. of umbra — more at UMBRAGE] 1 a : a small portable usu. cloth canopy that is fastened to a frame with hinged ribs radiating from a center pole, has a circular convex shape when open, can be opened or closed by means of a sliding catch, and provides protection against the weather — see PARASOL b : a large canopy of similar design whose center pole may be placed firmly in the ground or attached esp. to a table <garden furniture with colored ～s — Christopher Morley> — see BEACH UMBRELLA 2 : something resembling an umbrella in shape or function: as a : a metal cover secured over a ship's smokestack to keep out precipitation b : a bell-shaped structure composed chiefly of jellylike mesoglea that forms the main part of the body of a jellyfish, has muscular ectodermal cells lining the lower concave surface, and serves as a swimming organ by means of contractions c (1) : the arched overhanging foliage of a tree <the creamy ～s of the hemlock — C. G. Glover> (2) : the canopy formed by leaves and branches in a wooded area <see the pine wood spread its broad ～ — Cyril Connolly> d : the open canopy of a parachute e : a formation of planes maintained over surface operations or a landmass for defense against attack <throwing up an air ～ over Europe — Springfield (Mass.) Union> f : a heavy barrage of shell fire <the main battery guns were laying an ～ over the carrier — F. J. Bell> 3 : a unifying, conditioning, stabilizing, or controlling factor, agency, category, or authoritative influence <both parties are ～s for diverse groups — J. E. McLean> <organization cost, an ～ which covers the publisher's expenses — H. M. Silver> < maintain a price ～ over the industry — A. D. H. Kaplan> <combined under the ～ of Fascism — T. E. M. McKitterick>

2umbrella ‘‘ adj 1 : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an umbrella 2 : taking in many individuals or groups : ALL-EMBRACING <an ～ organization sheltering a host of subdivided activities — O. O. Trullinger> 3 : having a roof supported on a single post <a series of ～ sheds on a train platform>

3umbrella ‘‘ vt -ED / -ING / -S 1 : to protect or cover with or as if with an umbrella <each man ～ed from the downpour — Manchester Guardian Weekly> 2 : to provide with or as if with an umbrella <the new job . . . : to ～ the invasion — Time>

As mentioned above, geographical places are not defined in the dictionary, but words derived from geographical place names are. So although "Saint Louis" as a noun is not to be found in the Third New International, "saint louis" the adjective and the derivative noun "saint louisian" are. These can both be found on p. 2002 in volume 3:

saint lou·is -ˈlüə̇s sometimes -ˈlüē or -ˈlüi adj. usu cap S & L [fr. St. Louis, Mo.] : of or from the city of St. Louis, Mo. : of the kind or style prevalent in St. Louis

saint lou·i·san -üəsən n. pl saint louisans cap S & L [St. Louis + E -an] : a native or resident of St. Louis, Mo.

I personally really like this dictionary. I like the descriptivist approach to language and I am especially a big fan of dictionaries that make use of illustrative quotations to show how language is actually used in context. Ultimately, judgment of a dictionary should focus on the words and their definitions, and, in terms of that, this is a success, but some of the extras could have been better worked. I think, for example, that the dictionary could have done without the large diagrams of the parts of a ship, especially since it is not matched with equivalent diagrams for other contemporary machines, such as the automobile or airplane, and the color plate presenting the spectrum of colors seems overly complicated when compared with the straightforward color swatches found in Japanese-language dictionaries.