Day of Dictionaries and Encyclopedias – at the Presidential Library

On the eve of the Day of Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, recently celebrated in the country on November 22 and timed to the birthday of the Great Russian lexicographer Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl, the Presidential Library presented unique dictionaries and reference books on the Russian language.

One of the rare books is the “Dictionary of the Russian Academy”, published in six volumes at the end of the XVIII century. This is the first Russian explanatory and normative vocabulary. In its preparation were involved D. I. Fonvizin, G. R. Derzhavin, I. N. Boltin, I. I. Lepekhin and others. Later, it became necessary in a democratic mass dictionary of a smaller format. “For a long time we use a large dictionary of the Russian Academy, but to this day we have no manual language dictionary of the Russian language, - wrote Feodor Dmitrievich Kalaidovich. - To any lover of literature it would be pleased the appearance of a book on our own language; and the youth even need a small and cozy book, which in few lines combines all the necessary information. It is feeling the lack of such books and I would like to compose it”. In 1826 Kalaidovich releases in Moscow, in typography of the Moscow State University, the “Summary of rules for creating hand dictionary of the Russian language”. It is now digitized and stored in the collections of the Presidential Library.

The web site also includes the famous “Explanatory Dictionary of the Great Living Russian Language” by V. I. Dahl. This is a real encyclopedia of Russian national life, mentality and character. Dahl’s dictionary goes far beyond limits that delineate the usual philological dictionaries: it explains the items that characterize the Russian people’s daily life, and beliefs, and signs associated with the agricultural calendar, and provides a host of other ethnographic data. In interpreting a particular word, V. I. Dahl selects the set of synonyms, showing the exceptional richness of the Russian language, its flexibility and expressiveness, shows endless word-forming capabilities.

In 1861, for the first editions of “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” Vladimir Dahl has received a Constantine medal from the Imperial Geographical Society, in 1863 he was awarded the Lomonosov Prize of the Academy of Sciences and was awarded the title of honorary academician.

The collections of the Presidential Library include rare “Proverbs and Sayings of Russian people” by Vladimir Dahl, a part of which he placed in an explanatory dictionary. Their figurative language as best explains the meaning of many words and phrases.

The Thematic Year of the Russian language, announced by the Presidential Library, noteworthy the importance attached to the digitization of dictionaries and encyclopedias. Rare vintage and modern editions of the Russian language can be found in the electronic reference collection of the Presidential Library “Russian language”.

Let us remind that in October in the Presidential Library took place the interregional conference, at which were discussed the prospects of creating an Internet portal “Regional encyclopedias of Russia”. It is planned to place the methods and reference materials for the preparation of various types of encyclopedias, articles from both print and electronic encyclopedias of different cities of Russia.