The Oxford thesaurus: British and
American editions
Philip Bradley
Describes whal a general thesaurus consists of and considers the British and American editions of the Oxford the
saurus. Superficial differences between the two books are described, followed by basic differences in entries. The
layout of thesaurus entries is examined and specific examples given. Layout of index entries is compared and some
visual distinctions noted.
Although Roget's Thesaurus (1852) is probably the best
known of such works in Britain, thesauri have been pro
duced in some form for centuries. A thesaurus is a list of
Both editions were compiled by Laurence Urdang, who
edited the US version from a computer-generated base. Its
index is different from the British one (aside from the
words with their synonyms (and sometimes also their
obvious spelling and other minor differences) in structure,
antonyms). They may be general or specific in coverage
chiefly in the placement of phrases in the sorting hierarchy.
and can be arranged in several ways, usually by subject or
A comparison of the two approaches reflects differences in
opinion of how people approach such information.
alphabetically. Depending upon the arrangement an index
may be required also. Thesauri
been
To compile two editions of the same work at the same
reviewed in recent years in these columns (they arc a useful
have
frequently
time for different audiences must be one of the more
difficult tasks in literature. One must constantly keep in
mind the two audiences and try not to stray into the wrong
line of approach. Urdang has spent part of his life in Britain
and part in America and, well known in the fields of lin
tool for indexers) and many general ones arc currently in
print.
Roget's Thesaurus is one of the earliest comprehensive
general works: at least it is general in the sense that it
covers all topics but special in thai the contents are
arranged by subject. It consists of six categories and is sub
divided into 1,000 topics. To find a word and its synonyms
guistics and lexicography, is familiar with national differ
ences.
Some of the more superficial differences lie in the lay
an index is therefore essential. Presumably in deference lo
out. The dust-covers differ in wording though not in
Rogct the basic layout has not been changed in the many
design. The Editor's Foreword is written from his British
address in the UK version and from his US address in the
other. The typeface differs, resulting in the UK edition
having 1042 pages (thesaurus 558 pages, index 484 pages)
and the US edition 1005 pages (thesaurus 596, index 409).
editions which have been published.
An index may or may not be required for thesauri that
arc in alphabetical order. If the headword and its synonyms
arc given in the text the synonyms may be placed in an
index with a reference to the headword. In some thesauri,
however, every synonym is repeated as a headword and
The ISBNs differ, of course. Another variation, resulting
therefore no index is required. Thus a word wilh ten syn
licence/license; saviour/savior). This results in variation in
onyms will need to be entered eleven times, once as a head
placing in the alphabetical sequence in both thesaurus and
word and ten times as a synonym of a headword. This of
index.
course requires much more space than provision of an
from
national
usage,
is
the
spelling
(centre/center;
However, the thesaurus section and index contain more
index, assuming that all synonyms arc given with each
fundamental differences. The first depends on the arrange
headword. Of ten general thesauri recently seen in a book
ment within the entries. Here is an example (the degree
shop, ranging from comprehensive works to mini-thesauri,
sign ° means that the word following is listed as a head
all from reputable British publishers, only two had an index.
word as well as a synonym):
One particularly worthy of notice is the Oxford the
saurus from the Oxford University Press,1 their first move
into this field of linguistics. This is a general thesaurus
arranged alphabetically and containing some 650,000
words of text, of which 275,000 are words and phrases, the
rest illustrative sentences. Its index was abstracted by com
puter, then staff-edited at OUP. An American edition was
subsequently published to give coverage of English world
wide.
192
saintly adj. °holy, blessed, blest, beatific, °godly,
sainted,
angelic,
"seraphic,
"pure,
°righteous,
"virtuous, "blameless: Donald was such a saintly
man, it was impossible to think ill of him.
Each entry consists of four parts: headword; part of speech;
synonyms of the headword; a sentence showing how each
headword is used. The first two, the headword and part of
speech, need no explanation. The headwords have been
The Indexer Vol. 18 No. 3 April 1993
THE OXFORD THESAURUS: BRITISH AND AMERICAN EDITIONS
selected on the whole because of their frequency in the lan
(3)
guage. The synonyms following each headword are appro
sag
U K The board sagged precariously under his weight.
priately known as 'sense groupings'. If a headword has
Without a breath stirring, the banners sagged in
more than one set of synonyms because of a difference in
the humid air.
The board sagged precariously under my weight.
Without a breath stirring, the banners sagged in
US
meaning then each of these sets is a sense grouping. Some
lists of synonyms in the British version refer also to
American usage and vice versa, and occasionally other
usages, such as Australian, are introduced.
the humid air.
(4)
The publishers claim of the synonyms that the work is
saga
UK Are you really interested in the continuing saga
of the inhabitants of Coronation Street?
'Unlike traditional thesauruses, [in that it] lists the syn
US
onyms closest in meaning to the headword first: so for
absent-minded,
we
first
see
sions
such
of the inhabitants of Hydrangea Crescent?
preoccupied/inattentive/
absorbed and at the end of the list more colorful expres
as stargazing/distrait/woolgathe ring1.
Some
decisions must have been very hard to make. Incidentally,
in another statement, the Editor says 'there is no such thing
as an ideal synonym, for it is virtually impossible to find
Are you really interested in the continuing saga
(5)
sage
UK The sage whose counsel you seek lives deep in
the forest.
(meaning), connotation, frequency, familiarity, and appro
The sage whose council you must seek lives deep
in the forest.
It is not clear why the two versions should differ. Apart
from the difference in the spelling of counsel the meaning
priateness ... no language permits a perfect fit, in all
of the two sentences is almost the same and surely both are
respects, between any two words or phrases.'
valid for both countries.
(6) salt
two words or phrases that are identical in denotation
The last part of each entry is an unusual feature of the
US
thesaurus, consisting of a sentence, or occasionally two, to
UK
show how each headword is used. This throws up some
US
intriguing differences between the two editions—although
the reasons are not always clear. In fact, simply looking at
them can evoke interest, thought and humour, but all in the
cause of good linguistics. A check of the 76 headwords
beginning with the letters sa (sabotage to say-so) shows
that they entail the use of 178 sense groupings, and in
about a third of these cases the examples showing usage
differ from one edition to the other. Some examples are
given below.
Differences in examples of sentences in the UK and US
editions showing how words are used
(There arc often several sense groupings for each word.
These examples are taken from just one.)
(1)
sacrilege
UK The horrendous Buckinghamshire county office
building is an example of architectural sacrilege.
US
The horrendous office building is an example of
architectural sacrilege.
It is perhaps noteworthy that Urdang has his UK home in
Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. It may be
a little pernickety to suggest this, but could not the name of
the building in the UK edition be omitted or an equally
horrendous building in the US be included in their version?
(2)
sad
UK // was a sad day for all of us when the England
team lost the semifinal.
US
The water had a salt taste.
The water in your area has a salt taste.
Again one might assume that the same example would suf
fice in both cases, and why has the tense changed?
In (1), (2) and (4) the reason for the difference in the
two editions is clear as they refer to specific matters easily
recognizable in the two countries. They bring the thesaurus
to life. In the other three cases—and indeed in many cases
throughout the thesaurus—it is not clear why the Editor
uses slightly different examples sometimes and identical
ones at other times. Where the examples differ it may be
that certain phrases come more naturally to the inhabitants
of one country than the other, or the compiler may alter
phrases simply for the sake of variety. Perhaps, as in the
case of Shylock, 'it is my humour'. Whatever the reason, it
may require the services of psychology as well as linguis
tics to explain why there is a difference in the two salt
examples whereas the two examples for sadness are the
same: 'It is hard to describe the sadness we all felt when
she left.'
The index
The index lists all words that appear in the text as the
headword or a synonym. The headwords are arranged
alphabetically and the synonyms under each are similarly
arranged. However, the indexes in the two editions vary in
layout. Here are some of the sa entries:
// was a sad day when the US team failed to win
the gold medal.
No explanation is required for this example although one
might wonder why 'for all of us' is included only in the
UK edition.
The indexer Vol. 18 No. 3 April 1993
193
THE OXFORD THESAURUS: BRITISH AND AMERICAN EDITIONS
sack out
sacramental
sacred calling
sackcloth and ashes
sacking
sacramental
sacredness
sacred
sacred writings
sacrifice
sacrificed
sacred, make
sacredness
sacred writings
sacrificial
sacrificial iamb
sacrifice
sacred
sacrilege
sacrilegious
sacristan
sacrosanct
Reference
Oxford thesaurus: an A-Z dictionary of synonyms.
Laurence Urdang. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1991. xii. 1042 pp.
1. The
24 cm. ISBN 0-19-869151-3 (cased): £14.95; ISBN 0-19-869215-3
(thumb index) (1992): £17.50; isdn 0-19-195801-8 (de luxe)
(1992): £37.50.
(Also available on disk. DOS version on 5.25" disks; DOS ver
sion on 3.5" disks; Mac version. All at £99.00.)
The Oxford thesaurus. American edition. Laurence Urdang.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1992. xv, 1005 pp.
24 cm. isbn 0-19-507354-1 (cased): $19.95.
sacrificed
sacrificial lamb
sacrilege
sacrilegious
sacristan
sacrosancl
Regarding phrases, the layout also differs in the two
editions. In the UK edition no laughing matter is placed
under no, but is reversed in the US edition and appears as
laughing matter, no. The UK edition has an index entry no
mean trick but in the US edition there is no entry for this.
However, there is a thesaurus entry for trick with a large
number of synonyms and the entry for the fourth sense
grouping of trick is 'Usually, no + (adj.) + trick' followed
by the sense grouping of synonyms and then no mean
trick in the example. In fact I had to use the UK edition to
find what I wanted in the US one. The few occasions when
this sort of difficulty occurs, though, scarcely detract from
the value of the two editions.
Some UK words beginning with the syllabic non such
I
I Meanwhile,
'—' Information
in
another
part
Access Company
of
the
forest,
the
of Foster City,
California, a publisher of bibliographic indexes to periodi
cal literature, is exploring differences in the use of the
English language in Great Britain and the United States.
They are particularly concerned with language differences
that appear in academic and trade journals, and hope to
find an electronic solution to the translation between the
two usages—such as a list or computer program that
includes spelling variations, variations of form, etc., going
beyond the usual slang phrases—and useful lists of differ
ences for travellers, and which might be used electronically
or translated to electronic form. We wish power to their
modems.
as non-aligned are hyphenated, whereas the US spelling is
nonaligned. These words sound identical but when one
looks at them there is the impression that the UK word is
slightly stronger than its US counterpart. Non-aligned
looks as if the subject under discussion is deliberately not
aligned, whereas nonaligned suggests that the nonalignment is incidental. It is only in looking at these two books
side by side that such distinctions come to light.
The most recent technological advance in compact stor
age of vast quantities of documents is DIP—document
In spite of the differences between these two thesauri
hurdles are all the same, though—DIP vendors' technology
they have so much in common that they are virtually inter
changeable. It is difficult to know what a person whose
offers no substantial relief, says Christopher Locke in the
April 1991 issue of Byte. What is needed, in artificial intel
ligence jargon, is 'knowledge engineering1.
Making sure there is a 'retrieval hook' is still the task of
first language is not English would gain by using one in
preference to the other.
Moving on from microfilm
image processing. Documents, including images (handwrit
ing, graphics) are scanned into a computer. The retrieval
an indexcr. Even pictures of words will need to be convened
to indexable text. 'Dirty' text generated by optical character
recognition can be cleaned up and ASCII files automatically
indexed—once indexing terms are available. With free-text
indexing, recall and precision are the problem.
The article
ings, available
net of see and
such tools 'be
suggests using Library of Congress head
as CDMARC, for vocabulary control and a
see also references. Most important is that
put into the hands of intelligent and knowl
edgeable people who are not averse to long hours of diffi
Philip Bradley is former
Senior Librarian of Dundee
College of Technology and
Review Editor of The
Indexer.
194
cult intellectual work*.
The article includes
a useful
'Investigating indexing'—an eclectic
two-page
mix
spread
of software
tools, R&D efforts and professional associations to show
the wide range of options full-text retrieval offers.
M.C.
The Indexer Vol. 18 No. 3 April 1993