A dictionary at hand

Consult it regularly to develop your own vocabulary

“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”

— William Shakespeare

Shakespeare has a thought for every occasion and the lines quoted above aptly explicate my curiosity, eagerness and fervour to enhance my word power. The thirst for knowledge is a never-ending affair, which encourages me to soak in every new idea and word. Thus there was a time when I would buy every available dictionary in the market. It started with a small Chambers Dictionary, which was handed down to me by my elder siblings. It had the names of all of them scribbled across the first page, and subsequently mine was also added. With years, my collection began to grow; book shops near the university became my favourite haunts, which I would visit at least once a week.

I exulted in going around the different shelves, devouring the new titles on display of books on literature, theology, fiction (inclusive of Mills & Boon, Barbara Cartland, Dennis Robins, Georgette Heyer, Lucy Walker, all popular writers at my time). But my longest pause was near the section which housed the dictionaries, thesauruses, and books on quotations sitting prettily in their glossy covers. 

Buying books was an exhilarating experience, of course limited to the amount of cash in my pocket. However the shop owner was forever obliging to a regular visitor and would create an account for every month. Bargaining for a good discount was also an art, and it was very much dependent on the number of purchases I made. Selection over, some books paid for, some noted in his register, I would carry home my “loot”, clutched close to my heart. Book lovers may recall the delight the books gave just to be held. 

Let me recollect some lines from  Francis Bacon,  who had pronounced that “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested” — that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, with diligence and attention.

So with me it was always the dictionary which I read regularly, when as a student I was developing my own vocabulary, I would go through the dictionary. Every new word sounded alien at first, but would gradually seep in; of course, not being a Shashi Tharoor, I failed to remember it always at the appropriate time. But then I had my dictionaries to locate the one I was looking for. Later when I started teaching, dictionaries on Greek Mythology and literary terms were added to my already growing collection. Teaching English literature, especially essays of Charles Lamb and Bacon, made me refer to these aides too frequently. Poems by Milton had references leaping out of every line and I would curiously, diligently look up  references and allusions from my collection. It was infallibly imperative for me to explain it to my students after having a deep understanding of it myself.

When I shifted to teaching Indian writing in English, I again rummaged the book shelves for titles on Indian mythology and philosophy. We may have heard a whole lot of tales in our childhood, but they were grandmothers’ stories, which were a continuation of the oral tradition, with no attempt to grasp the comprehensive meaning. Thus my collection of dictionaries and encyclopaedia kept growing; thesaurus was generally consulted when I started my research writings. I always tried not to repeat the “same” word in a sentence. Hence the thesaurus came in handy for antonyms and synonyms. Sometimes I did fall prey to using an uncommon word rather than its more common counterpart, not because it showcased my mental faculty, but only because it sounded and “looked” better in the sentence.  

Today, when I look back to those days, I wonder what we would have done had the era been one of digitisation. Would we, like the present generation, had logged onto Google on our Android phones? I cannot deny that at times I also do it, once in a while. But even Google doesn’t provide the complete background of a reference point as does a mythological encyclopedia; it gives only very perfunctory information. I am glad my generation fell in love with books, which my children have been lucky to inherit, facilitated also by their own collection.

meenasodhi@gmail.com

Published - September 29, 2024 01:07 am IST