The Historical Development of the Description of Meanings in English-Japanese Dictionaries<BR><BR>

�@�@�@The earliest English-Japanese dictionaries, which were compiled by the interpreters of the Dutch language in the middle of the 19th century, had the description of meanings on the translational principle, seeking for the one-to-one correspondence of the two languages. In the Meiji Era, the description gradually improved, and a variety of techniques of description were invented, as the learning of English reached a higher level. Around 1885, some English-Japanese dictionaries came to be compiled on the bilingual principle, on which synonymous expressions were placed after the Japanese equivalents. However, this type of description is now on the decrease, because of the rise of the explanations of synonyms in the English-Japanese dictionaries. At the end of the era, some dictionaries tried to define words with the help of illustrative sentences.