Muret-Sanders Encyklopädisches Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch I-II. [antikvár]

A. PREFACE. He who, in reading a book, looks for a word in his dictionary, naturally hopes to find that word in the sense in which it occurs in the book, and hopes also to find it quickly and easily. Thus, in reducing the Unabridged Edition of Muret-Sanders to dimensions more suitable to the requirements of schools and of the ordinary reader, two principal points were constantly to be borne in mind: 1) To retain the more and exclude the less necessary items of the vocabulary, and 2) So to arrange what has been retained, that it may be found with the least possible expenditure of time and trouble. As to the first point, care has been taken in the present abridgment to retain all the words and phrases in common use at the present day, and also those terms which, though rare or obsolete, ' may yet occur in school-reading and, especially, in Shakespeare's dramas. As cant and slang terms, as well as vulgarisms and provincialisms, occasionally creep into the written language, especially in the case of novels and newspapers, numbers of such expressions have been embodied in this dictionary, and, in addition to them, from obvious reasons, a great many Americanisms and Anglo-Indian words. Proper names, too, have been inserted, where their form or pronunciation render it desirable. Great attention has been given to the verbs; for on the just conception and exact rendering of the verb often depends the sense of a whole sentence. The verbs, therefore, have been elaborated with special care, every shade of meaning being defined either by synonymous words or explanatory sentences. The prepositions, too, are elucidated by numerous examples, and verbs and adjectives will be found accompanied by indications of the prepositions whicli they govern. All the advantages peculiar to the Unabridged Edition in the distribution and arrangement of the matter are preserved in the present dictionary, ¦such, for istance, as the indication of synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms, the etymology, the peculiar pictured signs explained at the bottom of each page, —¦ things which all contribute to the exact understanding of the words. A principal merit of Muret's dictionary is its Phonetic Respelling', which stands' unrivalled, even at the present day. Indeed, no system of respelling makes the quantity and quality of syllables so clear to the eye, and so intelligible to Germans, as that of Toussaint-Lang-enscheldt. Other merits that Muret's dictionary can justly claim are the following: unlike most other dictionaries, it gives no separate lists of proper names or abbreviations, but everything is to be found in its proper alphabetical place; compounds have their own headings; the different meanings of the words are separated from each other by dashes, and marked with running numbers or letters; the illustrative phrases and quotations will, for the most part, be found grouped together after all the other particulars concerning the word in question. All these details have, it is true, made the book somewhat voluminous, but, on the other hand, they have greatly increased its general perspicuity. The present edition, which is, above all, intended as a book for schools, deviates in its arrangements but little from the Unabridged Edition, and only where some other arrangement seemed more advisable for a school-book. The first place under each heading has generally been given to the most important signification, which is, of course, not always the primary sense of the word; obsolete meanings nearer to theetymon,when given at all, have been placed last. The German words are spelt according to the orthography taught in German schools, but, for the special benefit of non-German readers, frequent use has been made of the hyphen and, in German words of non-German extraction, of the sign of accentuation. The references by &c. to the Detached Observations at the beginning of the book, concerning English conjugation, or fluctuations in orthography and pronunciation, have been considered as necessary, the tables of British and American measures, weights, and coins, as desirable, also for this edition. For general remarks on the interior arrangement of the work see p. XVI. * Sincerest thanks must be given to all who contributed to the composition of this dictionary: especially to Professor Boyle, who, till within a short time of his death, helped, in an indefatigable manner, to sift the too copious matter of the Unabridged Edition; likewise to the gentlemen employed in the publisher's office: Messrs. Chas. Blattnek, E. Gkunow, A. Gustmann, J. Koekfee, B. Stobbe, and P. Zandek, who, by their kind assistance in reading the proofs, have done their utmost to ensure the correctness and exactness of the work; and, last but not least, to the publishers themselves, who, laudably desirous to uphold their honourable name and reputation, have not grudged the expenditure of the vast sums required for such a work as Muret-Sanders. But alasl the intellectual author of the whole. Professor G. Langenscheidt, was not permitted to see the completion of his great work, a work which lay so near his heart. May success crown his great enterprise, and repay, in some measure at least, the enormous expenditure of labour and money bestowed upon the work I Berlin, September 1897. B. KLATT.