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Dictionary Review ELSEVIER'S DICTIONARY OF WILD AND CULTIVATED PLANTS |
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Editor: W. E. Clason ISBN: 0 44442977-8 Publisher: Elsevier Date of publication: December 1989 Price: $ 241.50 ˇ Number of pages/entries: 1,024
pages, 8185 terms ˇ Quality of paper & print:
Acid-free paper, two-column layout. ˇ Typeface: (Large & clear)
Main entries (in Latin) are in bold face, italics are used for the acronyms
indicating the other six languages. The font is small but very legible. ˇ Quality of binding: The volume
is solidly hardbound. We are back to green covers, thank you! ˇ Readability: Excellent. ˇ Convenience of look-up: The
main listing is alphabetically organized around the Latin scientific
terminology, as it is customary for botanical references of this type. The
eternal double search winch this method requires is not very convenient, but
if there is an alternative, nobody has ever found it. ˇ Grammatical information: None.
ˇ Contextual and encyclopedic
information: None. ˇ Appendices: None. ˇ Percent "filler words":
None. List about 20 terms you
expect to find in this type of work: Echinops sphaerocephalus or globe thistle Cymara cardunculus var.
scolymus or artichoke Astragalus or milk-vetch (plus 37 other varieties) Jasminum
or jasmine (spelled jessamine) Ulmus
or elm (19 varieties listed. Prieszter offers only
17.) Rhododendrum or rose-bay (R. arboreum is missing, as well as R flavum.
In exchange, R.
ferrigineum, hirsutum, lappopicum, luteum, maximum, ponticum are beautifully detaied) Oryza
sativa or rice Leontopidum alpinum or edelweiss Eucalyptus
including E.globulus (but the synonym E. glauca
is missing) Thymus
or thyme (77 varieties out of Priezter 87!) Capparis
or caper. Capparis spinosa
or rupestris is present, but C. ovata or sicula is missing. This
omission is particularly painful. A "pizza romana"
without a healthy dose of Capparis ovata doesn't
deserve the Italian seal of approval.) List 10 special terms that you have not found in other
dictionaries in this field but which are present in this dictionary and add
to the value of the work: As
far as I can tell, there are only four other dictionaries in this field: Bedevian, Armenag, Illustrated Polyglottic
Dictionary of Plant Names.
I-A-Ar-T-E-F-DI*.
Cairo: Argus & Papazian,
1936 Priszter, Szaniszló, Trees and Shrubs of
Europe -- Dictionary in
Eight Languages.
E-F-DH-I-S-R-L*.
Budapest (dist. Kultura, P.O. Box 149, H1389
Hungary): Akadémia Kiadó,
1983. Vaucher, Hugues, Dictionary of Trees and
Shrubs.
L-E-F-G-I*. Elsevier, 1986 Willims, G. & Hunyadi, K, Dictionary of Weeds of Eastern
Europe. L-Al-B-C-D-E-G-H-PI-RuR-SC-Sk*.
Elsevier, 1987 A comparison is quite difficult,
considering the different pairings and scope of these references. Clason has concentrated on Italian and British flora and
has excluded all rare plants from his listing. Furthermore, when Clason's extensive experience and sources did not produce
a vernacular name, he offers "especially [in] Spanish ... a literal
translation of the scientific term." I can vouch for one thing: I have
found every relevant plant I like to eat, look at and smell. Comments How do you crown 92 years of curiosity and more than half a
century of lexicographic commitment? You edit a reference such as Clason's Dictionary
of Wild and
Cultivated Plants. This dictionary is a fine jewel, which fulfills the
highest expectations one could have. Of course, a few minor flaws are
unavoidable. For instance, if we consider one of my wife's preferred
flowers, the swordlilly, we find that this
term is attributed to Glaudiolus communis
(common -), G.
inbricatus (imbricated
-), G. palustris (marsh -), G. byzantinus
(Byzantine -) and G.
dubius (meridional
-), but G. illyricus becomes gladiolus. Conversely,
the other English common name (corn-flag) is paired only with G. italicus.
A number of Italian alternative renditions are missing (iride, trombetto,
ghiacicolo, spadino, fil di spada,
monacuccia, fiore appiolino) as well as the German common
alternative to Garten-Siegwurz (why "Garten-?"),
i.e.:Gewöhuliche Siegwurz. Generally speaking, the regional variations of common
names are inconsistently portrayed. Barley is represented by 18
varieties of Hordia. Two English
renditions are offered for Hordeum Murium: Wall barley and way
bent. Mouse barley and
worse wild barley are
strangely absent. The Italian version is richer, including orzo selvatico,
erba spiga, forasacco, erba codola;
but orzo dei muri, orzo dei ratti, gano canino, coda di scoiattolo are not recognized. Amazingly
enough, orzo dei ratti reappears
m French (orge des rats), Dutch (muitzengerst) and German, (Maüse-Gerste),
while orzo dei muri (our lowly
wall barley) is mirrored in Spanish (cebada de los muros) and
in French (orge des murs). Nevertheless, I am quibbling. In the mixed bag of Elesvier's authors, Clason and
Dorian have always been a full head above the crowd.
This duo (there are others too, I know) has made Elsevier a terminological
giant. They help us forgive and forget that the esteemed Dutch publisher
sometimes has feet of clay, as shown by a few butchered references whose
editors and compilers shall (should?) remain nameless. Is there a chance that
the Godel Medal might be awarded to a
lexicographer? W. E. Clason certainly deserves it.
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