Roget's Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Roget's Thesaurus is a widely-used English language
thesaurus
, created by Dr. Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) in 1805 and released to the public on 29 April 1852. The original edition had 15,000 word
s, and each new edition
has been larger. The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum
houses the original manuscript in its collection.
The name "Roget" is trademark
ed in parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom
. By itself, it is not protected in the United States of America, where use of the name "Roget" in the title of a thesaurus does not necessarily indicate any relationship to Dr. Roget; it has come to be seen as a generic
thesaurus name, like "Webster
" for dictionaries
.
Roget described his thesaurus in the foreword to the first edition:
Roget's Thesaurus is composed of six primary classes. Each class is composed of multiple divisions and then sections. This may be conceptualized as a tree containing over a thousand branches for individual "meaning clusters" or semantically linked words. These words are not exactly synonyms, but can be viewed as colours or connotations of a meaning or as a spectrum of a concept. One of the most general words is chosen to typify the spectrum as its headword, which labels the whole group.
Roget's schema of classes and their subdivisions is based on the philosophical work of Leibniz (see Leibniz—Symbolic thought), itself following a long tradition of epistemological work starting with Aristotle
. Some of Aristotle's Categories are included in Roget's first class "abstract relations".
"category schemes" (Wikipedia:Category schemes) are based on the classification system of Roget's Thesaurus, as evidenced by the outline from the 1911 US
edition, now in the public domain
.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
thesaurus
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
, created by Dr. Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) in 1805 and released to the public on 29 April 1852. The original edition had 15,000 word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s, and each new edition
Edition (book)
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
has been larger. The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum
Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum
The Karpeles Manuscript Library is the world’s largest private collection of original manuscripts and documents.The library was founded in 1983 by California real estate magnates, David and Marsha Karpeles, with the goal of stimulating interest in learning, especially in children...
houses the original manuscript in its collection.
The name "Roget" is trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
ed in parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. By itself, it is not protected in the United States of America, where use of the name "Roget" in the title of a thesaurus does not necessarily indicate any relationship to Dr. Roget; it has come to be seen as a generic
Genericized trademark
A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...
thesaurus name, like "Webster
Noah Webster
Noah Webster was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author...
" for dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
.
Roget described his thesaurus in the foreword to the first edition:
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 own 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.
Roget's Thesaurus is composed of six primary classes. Each class is composed of multiple divisions and then sections. This may be conceptualized as a tree containing over a thousand branches for individual "meaning clusters" or semantically linked words. These words are not exactly synonyms, but can be viewed as colours or connotations of a meaning or as a spectrum of a concept. One of the most general words is chosen to typify the spectrum as its headword, which labels the whole group.
Roget's schema of classes and their subdivisions is based on the philosophical work of Leibniz (see Leibniz—Symbolic thought), itself following a long tradition of epistemological work starting with Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
. Some of Aristotle's Categories are included in Roget's first class "abstract relations".
Roget's Thesaurus as a classification system
Roget's Thesaurus can be seen as a classification system. The WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
"category schemes" (Wikipedia:Category schemes) are based on the classification system of Roget's Thesaurus, as evidenced by the outline from the 1911 US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
edition, now in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.