International Dictionary Day
is celebrated on 16 October and we would like to remind you that students and employees of Stellenbosch University
have daily, free access to the best electronic dictionaries.
You do not have to use outdated dictionaries to find the meaning of a word, a
synonym or a translation. With the click of a button you can consult one of the
JS Gericke Library’s many leading electronic dictionaries, for example the
Oxford English Dictionary, Pharos’ online dictionaries or Woordeboek van die
Afrikaanse Taal (WAT). Click on www.sun.ac.za/library, go
to Find/E-reference/Language dictionaries, select
the dictionary of your choice and add it to your “favourites” for easy future
reference.
16 October also marks the start of the Sponsor a Word Competition of the WAT with
the rapper HemelBesem as patron. One
participant can win R25 000 sponsored by Sanlam. Words can be sponsored
at R100 a word and each participant will receive a certificate with his or her
name and the sponsored word or words. You can also buy a word at R5 000 a word and
those words cannot besponsored or bought by another participant. Go to www.wat.co.za
and click on Sponsor a Word if you would like to take part.
Noah Webster was born on 16 October 1758 and Dictionary Day is celebrated
worldwide in honour of this famous American compiler of dictionaries.
Webster was a brilliant student and commenced his studies at Yale
University at the age of 15. He would later compile the first American
dictionary and is heralded as the father of American lexicography