Editing Thesaurus (section)

== History ==
[[File:Roget P M.jpg|right|upright=0.9|thumb|Peter Mark Roget, author of ''Roget's thesaurus'']]
In antiquity, [[Philo of Byblos]] authored the first text that could now be called a thesaurus. In [[Sanskrit]], the [[Amarakosha]] is a thesaurus in verse form, written in the 4th century.

The study of synonyms became an important theme in 18th-century philosophy, and [[Etienne Bonnot de Condillac|Condillac]] wrote, but never published, a dictionary of synonyms.<ref>Embleton</ref><ref name="lafaye"/>

Some early synonym dictionaries include:
* [[John Wilkins]], ''[[An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language]]'' and ''Alphabetical Dictionary'' (1668) is a "regular enumeration and description of all those things and notions to which names are to be assigned". They are not explicitly synonym dictionaries — in fact, they do not even use the word "synonym" — but they do group synonyms together.<ref>John Wilkins, ''An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language'', London 1668 [https://archive.org/details/AnEssayTowardsARealCharacterAndAPhilosophicalLanguage/page/n7/mode/2up full text]</ref><ref>John Wilkins, William Lloyd (anonymously), ''An Alphabetical Dictionary Wherein all English Words According to their Various Significations, Are either referred to their Places in the Philosophical Tables, Or explained by such Words as are in those Tables'', London 1668 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ErlplQnAWz4C full text]</ref><ref>Natascia Leonardi, "An Analysis of a Seventeenth Century Conceptual Dictionary with an Alphabetical List of Entries and a Network Definition Structure: John Wilkins' and William Lloyd's ''An Alphabetical Dictionary'' (1668)" in ''Historical Dictionaries and Historical Dictionary Research'', papers from the ''International Conference on Historical Lexicography and Lexicology'', University of Leicester, 2002, Max Niemeyer Verlag 2004, {{isbn|3484391235}}, p. 39-52</ref>
* [[Gabriel Girard (priest)|Gabriel Girard]], ''La Justesse de la langue françoise, ou les différentes significations des mots qui passent pour synonymes'' (1718)<ref name="girard">Gabriel Girard, ''La Justesse de la langue françoise, ou les différentes significations des mots qui passent pour synonymes'', Paris 1718, [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-50626 full text]</ref>
* [[John Trusler]], ''The Difference between Words esteemed Synonyms, in the English Language; and the proper choice of them determined'' (1766)<ref name="trusler">John Trusler (anonymously), ''The Difference between Words esteemed Synonyms, in the English Language; and the proper choice of them determined'', London, 1766 [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175014957412&view=1up&seq=13 full text]</ref>
* [[Hester Lynch Piozzi]], ''British Synonymy'' (1794)<ref name="piozzi">Hester Lynch Piozzi, ''British Synonymy; or, an Attempt Regulating the Choice of Words in Familiar Conversation'', Dublin 1794 [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015024527288&view=1up&seq=7 full text]</ref>
* James Leslie, ''Dictionary of the Synonymous Words and Technical Terms in the English Language'' (1806)<ref name="leslie">James Leslie, ''Dictionary of the Synonymous Words and Technical Terms in the English Language'', Edinburgh, 1806 [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433069257057&view=1up&seq=1 full text]</ref>
* [[George Crabb (writer)|George Crabb]], ''English Synonyms Explained'' (1818)<ref name="crabb">George Crabb, ''English Synonyms Explained, in Alphabetical Order with Copious Illustrations and Examples Drawn from the Best Writers'', 2nd edition, London 1818 [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433069256901 full text]</ref>

''[[Roget's Thesaurus]]'', first compiled in 1805 by Peter Mark Roget, and published in 1852, follows [[John Wilkins]]' semantic arrangement of 1668. Unlike earlier synonym dictionaries, it does not include definitions or aim to help the user choose among synonyms. It has been continuously in print since 1852 and remains widely used across the English-speaking world.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199254729.001.0001/acprof-9780199254729-chapter-1|title=Introduction - Oxford Scholarship|website=oxfordscholarship.com|year=2003|access-date=26 March 2018|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199254729.001.0001|last1=Hüllen|first1=Werner|isbn=978-0-19-925472-9}}</ref> Roget described his thesaurus in the foreword to the first edition:<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Lloyd |editor-first=Susan M. |date=1982 |page=xix |title=Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases|publisher=Longman |edition=New|location=Harlow |contribution=Prefact to the first edition, 1852 |last=Roget |first=P. M. |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/rogetsthesauruso00lloy/page/n22/mode/1up |contribution-url-access=registration}}</ref>

<blockquote>It is now nearly fifty years since I first projected a system of verbal classification similar to that on which the present work is founded. Conceiving that such a compilation might help to supply my deficiencies, I had, in the year 1805, completed a classed catalogue of words on a small scale, but on the same principle, and nearly in the same form, as the Thesaurus now published.
</blockquote>