Blip number 3286

I don’t know when I first acquired a Thesaurus, but it became my companion for lots of years. It saw me through all the writing I did whilst studying, but it also gave me many hours of fascination as I explored words. Because this one was a ‘proper’ Roget’s Thesaurus with all the words ordered by meaning, so one could look for a word and then wander the pages to find lots of similar words and dissimilar words. Eventually it fell to pieces. When I later bought a new one, I made a mistake and bought just a Thesaurus. I use it a lot: to find synonyms for writing, for when I just can’t think of the right word, for doing crosswords, but the words are in alphabetical order, which makes it easy to use, but no longer can one wander, finding linked words.

Today Susie Dent’s word is Thesaurus and she describes how in 1852 Peter Mark Roget created the first Thesaurus, the result of a lifetime’s cataloguing and classifying words according to meaning. The word ‘thesaurus’ comes from the Greek word for ‘storehouse’ or ‘treasure’ so a Thesaurus is a treasury of words. I have certainly found it to be so. 

Curiosity made me see whether copies of Roget’s Thesaurus still exist - they do and I have now ordered one! 

Thank you for all the good wishes, lovely comments, stars and hearts for my Blipday yesterday. Blipbook 9 is completed and went on its way to publication (swiftly). Onto year 10!!