The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

ENCYCLOPAEDIA

The word Encyclopaedia (Encyclopedia) was first defined in Sir Thomas Elyot's Latin Dictionary (1538) as 'that lernynge whiche comprehendeth all lyberall science and studies.' It was first used as the title of a book by Johann Heinrich Alsted in 1608, by which time it had acquired its modern meaning of a book covering every branch of human knowledge. The term is also, however, applied to a work confined to some particular branch of knowledge. The distinction between an encyclopaedia and a dictionary is that the former explains subjects and the latter explains words, a dictionary being the product of the work of a philologist. And the distinction between a glossary and an encyclopaedia is one of depth, the glossary being much more concise and often restricted to a particular subject, for example horticulture.

The work of an encyclopaedist is some what analogous to that of a chef. Ingredients, in the form of information, is sourced from suppliers - existing data sources - processed and blended together, much as a chef may peel cook and blend vegetables, herbs, spices, meats and fish to form a new dish so the information is paraphrased, blended, corroborated and written down forming a new article. Much as a top class chef takes great care to select quality raw ingredients for his dishes, so too does the top class encyclopaedist take great care to ensure the quality and reliability of the information he sources.
Research Encyclopaedia