Building the monolingual entry

The process of compiling entries for a monolingual dictionary is discussed briefly below:
★Preliminaries: resources for entry-building
User profile
A user profile seeks to characterize the typical user of the dictionary, and the uses to which the dictionary is likely to be put. It’s true that some dictionaries have such
a wide range of potential users and uses that it may be difficult to identify information specific enough to be useful. But even in such cases, the exercise is still
worthwhile. To build a user profile, we need to think carefully about who our typical users will be, and what they will be using the dictionary for.
The Style Guide
The Style Guide is a set of instructions which provides detailed guidelines for handling every aspect of the microstructure. These guidelines reflect general policy
decisions made at the outset of the project – and those decisions, in turn, reflect our understanding of the needs and capabilities of the intended user. The Style Guide
affects both content and presentation.
Template entries
The Style Guide incorporates the ‘rules’ for dealing with each individual entry component. But, the lexicon includes some entire categories of word whose members
have so much in common with one another that it makes sense to follow a standard model when compiling entries for them. These standard models are what we call
‘templates’, and a template is a kind of skeleton entry which you flesh out with information from the database. Templates can be written for many kinds of lexical set,
and they have the dual benefit of: - streamlining the entry-writing process
- ensuring that entries belonging to lexical sets are handled systematically, and that relevant information isn’t randomly omitted.
★Distributing information: MWEs, run-ons, and senses:
Multiword expressions (MWEs)
Multiword expressions (MWEs) are expressions which are made up of at least 2 words and which can be syntactically and/or semantically idiosyncratic in nature.
Moreover, they act as a single unit at some level of linguistic analysis. According to Sag et al. we could define MWEs roughly as „idiosyncratic interpretations that
cross word boundaries.  Examples for MWEs would be idioms as „’kick the bucket’, compound nouns as „telephone box“ and „post office“, verb-particle
constructions as „’look sth. Up’ or proper names as „’San Francisco’. 
Run-ons
Run-ons (undefined derived forms, typically located at the end of a main entry) have long been used in dictionaries as a device for achieving broader coverage at a low
cost in terms of space. A good Style Guide will set out criteria for admitting words as run-ons, and will indicate which suffixes are allowable.
Dictionary senses
A single-word lemma can have various senses, which we call lexical units. Some lemmas exist in multiword form, and these can also have more than one sense: for
instance the phrasal verb set off has several meanings, including (1) begin a journey, and (2) detonate (a bomb, etc.). Some types of multiword lemma, such as
compounds (ice cream) and phrasal verbs (set off), regularly appear as headwords in dictionaries.

★Systems for handling grammar and labelling:

Grammar
A well-designed and well-populated database will include detailed grammatical information for each LU of each lemma. In all kinds of monolingual dictionary, basic
grammar is supplied in the form of wordclass markers. For example - reside verb [no obj., with adverbial of place] have one’s home in a particular place . . .
Labels
When an indication of vocabulary type is given in a print dictionary, this is normally in the form of a ‘linguistic label’. Dictionaries will offer in the front or back
matter a list of the abbreviations used in these labels. Here are two groups of words that you might be tempted to label ‘archaic’: chainmail, jousting, woad, alchemist
helpmeet, verily, greensward
 Writing the entry
Definitions: introduction
Explaining what words mean is the central function of a monolingual dictionary. It is also, as Johnson observed, one of the most contentious aspects of the
lexicographer’s work. The raw materials we will be working with are already logged in the database, and they include:
 a provisional division of the lemma into LUs, or potential ‘dictionary senses’
 a rough characterization of the meaning of each LU, or how it contributes to the overall sense of any text it forms part of.
 one or more examples from the corpus, showing how the LU is typically used and the kinds of context it usually appears in.
 information about the LU’s register, collocational behaviour, syntactic and colligational preferences, pragmatic features, and so on, with each fact typically supported
by at least one example sentence.
All these resources will come into play as we embark on the challenging task of creating definitions for a dictionary entry.
Definitions: content
The definer’s first decision is: what should I say about this word (or to be more precise, about this lexical unit, or LU). From every possible observation that could be
made about the ways in which a given LU contributes to the meaning of its context, which will be of most value to the user.
Definitions: form
Once we have a clear idea of our definition’s content – the information we want it to convey – our next task is to decide on its form. The form of a definition is the
language used for encoding its content, and this includes grammatical structures as well as words. Regardless of the adequacy and accuracy of their content,
definitions can never be effective if they are unintelligible to the intended user.
What makes a good definition?
Definitions succeed when they get two things right: content and form. The precise configuration will be determined by the needs and skills of the users of the
particular dictionary we are working on, but if a definition doesn’t provide the information its users require, in a form they can readily digest, it has failed. So for
example, a definition consisting only of synonyms may be
easy to follow, but in most cases it won’t give an adequate account of content. On the other hand, a definition that provides the necessary content in technically precise
language is of no value if it is unintelligible to the users it is aimed at.
Examples
Example sentences are a vital component of the kind of database. Their function in the database is to support and illustrate every linguistic fact recorded there, and to
provide editors at the ‘synthesis’ stage with the raw materials for constructing a dictionary entry. Database examples will typically be complete sentences taken from
the corpus. In the finished dictionary, however, the examples have somewhat different functions, and these vary according to the type and level of dictionary.
Completing the entry
Finally, we’ve reached the end of our dictionary entry. The various senses of the headword have been teased out and have been ordered in the entry in a way that best
meets our users’ needs. For each LU, we have provided a definition which conveys the information the user will need in order to grasp the concept, and does so with
the minimum number of words and in language our user can readily understand. As far as possible, our entry will also cater for those users who want (or need) to use
the word productively. This means describing – transparently, and without resorting to codes that have to be learned – the syntactic and lexical environments in which
the word typically occurs. Once the whole thing has been checked for length , voilà – your entry is complete.
Discuss the origin & development of English lexicography before printing
Origin
The earliest ‘list of words’ that might be said to constitute the beginnings of English lexicography were the glossaries of Anglo-Saxon priests and
school teachers, compiled to enable those who didn’t know Latin to read Latin manuscripts (English lexicography is generally accepted as
beginning sometime around the early eighth century). These glossaries then were essentially lists of Latin words with English glosses. Then in the
15th c., following the revival of classic learning and literature, we also find the opposite: English-Latin, to enable learners to master Latin.

It isn’t until the beginning of the 17th c. that we find the first English-English Dictionary: Robert Cawdrey’s A Table Alphabetical.... But in
Cawdrey’s Dictionary we find only the ‘hard words’, that is words borrowed from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin or French. These Dictionaries of
hard words continue to appear throughout the 17th c. and then at the beginning of the 18th c. the first English-English dictionary was published
containing not only the ‘hard words’ but all the common English words.

Development
English Dictionaries before Samuel Johnson
15th century
1440.- Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum (a treasure or store-house for the young or for clerks).
It’s an English-Latin dictionary, first English, then several Latin equivalents.
Attributed to Galfridus Grammaticus (Geoffrey the Grammarian), a Dominican monk in Norfolk.
Printed in 1499 (printing was introduced in England in 1476). It contains 12.000 entries. Written in the dialect of East Anglia.
16th century
1538.- Sir Thomas Elyot’s Dictionarie (a Latin-English dictionary). First to use the word ‘dictionary’.
17th century
1604.- Robert Cawdrey’s A table Alphabeticall containing and teaching the true meaning and understanding of hard English wordes, borrowed
from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or French and &. With the interpretation thereof by plaine English wordes, gathered for the benefit of Ladies,
Gentlewomen, or any other unskilfull persons.
Generally considered the first English-English dictionary.
It’s a dictionary of hard words and contains 2.500 entries.
18th century
1702.- J.K’s A New English Dictionary (J.K. believed to be the initials of John Kersey, because he’s the author of other dictionaries of about the
same time).
First English Dictionary to include common words as well as ‘hard’ ones (28.000 entries).
1730.- Nathan Bailey’s Dictionarium Britannicum (48.000 entries).
Used by Samuel Johnson as a working base for his own dictionary.