1. The Italian word vocabolario is ambiguous, as it may mean either a reference book (dizionario) or a repertory of words (lessico). In English we have two different words, dictionary and vocabulary respectively; in technical texts vocabulary is sometimes replaced with lexicon.

  3. Words like battleship, steamship and spaceship are compounds, while friendship, sponsorship, etc. are derivatives. In the former cases, the second element is the full word ship (a boat); in the latter, the second element is the suffix –ship (for abstract nouns). The two must not be confused — a friendship is not a type of ship. If you know German, compare Raumschiff and Freundschaft.

  4. Among others, C. EVANS, The Mighty Micro, London, Gollancz, 1979.

  5. W.L. TAYLOR, Cloze procedure: A new tool for measuring reading ability, in "Journalism Quarterly", a. 30, 1953, pp. 414-438. In Italy, Raffaele Simone used a word created by his daughter in the title of a book: R. SIMONE, Maistock: il linguaggio spiegato da una bambina, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1988.

  6. In terms like these the whole is more than, and different from, the sum of the parts.

  7. An asterisk before an example marks incorrect forms.

  8. The fact that 50% of BASIC English nouns (300 out of 600) can also be used as verbs shows how relevant the conversion process is, in particular with the commonest English words.

  9. Reference to specific dictionaries is dictated by the necessity to provide real examples — the choice of the dictionaries that are mentioned in this chapter depends on the fact that they can provide relevant material for linguistic analysis and does not, by itself, imply a recommendation. Conversely, not all the good dictionaries that could be recommended to students, translators, etc. are mentioned here.

  10. Remember that editor never corresponds to editore; the editor of a dictionary, an anthology, etc, is its curatore; the editor of a newspaper, journal or magazine is its direttore ("Letters to the Editor" Lettere al Direttore) unless there are qualifications: for example, the sports editor of a newspaper is redattore sportivo or capo della redazione sportiva. The English for editore is publisher.

  11. This section, dealing with specific dictionaries, reflects the writer's own experiences with various kinds of dictionaries and is basically aimed at providing criteria for the analysis of the para-text and of entries. Excellent lexicographical works are not mentioned here, while not all the dictionaries described here are recommended as good tools for Italian learners of English

  12. The 4th edition, 1989, is called Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and is edited by A. P. COWIE, who also edited the 5th in 1995.

  13. Word is a general word. In describing vocabulary we need other terms:

    14. token: the single occurrence of any word in a text; this line consists of sixteen tokens;

    type: each word form; the previous line consists of 15 types because of is repeated. Notice that token (sing.) and tokens (plur.) are treated as two different types;

    entry: a word with all its inflected forms: be, as an entry, includes am is are was were be been being, and tokens goes with token. Dictionaries normally group words under entries.

  14. We are thankful to Prof. John Sinclair for allowing us to use this material for teaching purposes.

  15. The Italian language has three different words for the fish (sogliola), the part under one's feet (pianta) and suola for shoes — but no name for the part of the socks or stockings under the soles of feet.

  16. For the definition of this and other terms please refer to a good handbook of English phonology.

  17. The Royal Society (in full: Royal Society of London for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge, founded in 1660) is the oldest scientific society in Great Britain and one of the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. It partly corresponds to Italian Accademia delle Scienze.

  18. The French word estacade, however, is not recorded among the over 250,000 entries of the dictionary.

  19. Here, more than elsewhere, the Italian "equivalent" is not accurate. A British Chemist, for example, also sells and develops films. A typical American drugstore includes the pharmacy department but also a snack bar and a general store. Mr Burke is having breakfast at the drugstore clearly cannot be translated as "Il sig. Burke sta facendo colazione in farmacia."

  20. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark": Hamlet I. iv. 90 — of course, the retrieval of this information has been made quick and easy by the use of a Dictionary of Quotations!

  21. Here private means secret: if you think you know the cant word for policeman or cocaine, you probably know a word that was replaced years ago — unless, of course, you are a criminal too…

  22. A recent example in Italian is paninaro.

  23. A good example is provided by the Italian words meaning "unlucky": iellato, scalognato, sfigato… All these words are recorded by Devoto-Oli, 1995.

  24. As the word fuck is recorded in the LDOCE, obviously with clear warnings about its taboo status, the omission of the origin of snafu means that this information is irrelevant in order to understand its meaning and that snafu has lost its taboo connotations.

  25. G. PORCELLI, The English of Communication and Information Sciences. Analysis and examples, Milan, Sugarco, 1998, paragraph 7.3

  26. Here the OED gives the transcription (in the API alphabet) of the pronunciation of the word. The transcription is not given here because most browser would not reproduce it correctly.