Research Guides: English and American Literature: Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Histories

Defining Terms and Concepts: Handbooks and Terminology

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick
ISBN: 9780192801180
Publication Date: 2001-11-15
Contains over 1,000 of the most troublesome literary terms encountered by students and general readers, this gem of a book gives clear and often witty explanations to terms such as hypertext, multi-accentuality, and postmodernism.
A Handbook to Literature by William Harmon; Hugh Holman
Publication Date: 2008-03-12
The definitive reference on literature in English, this handbook provides an alphabetical listing of more than 2,000 important terms and facts in literature, linguistics, rhetoric, criticism, printing, bookselling,and information technology.

Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism This link opens in a new window
The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism is a reference guide to literary theory. The Guide includes entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.

Defining Terms and Concepts: Companions and Histories

Cambridge Companions Online This link opens in a new window
Cambridge Companions are lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics and periods. All are collections of specially commissioned essays, shaped and introduced to appeal to student readers. Together the chapters add up to a systematic critical account of, for example Plato, Luther, Jane Austen, Tom Stoppard or Stravinsky, the French Novel or Jewish American Literature, and each title is supported by reference features such as a chronology and guide to further reading.
Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
Over 250 of these well-known, used and trusted volumes published since the 1960s are available online; covers 14 subject areas, including General History, Regional History, Literary Studies, Philosophy, and Religious Studies.
Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new window
LION includes the full text of numerous literary reference works, including the New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, the Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature, and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.
A fully searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose. LION is the single most extensive and wide-ranging online collection of English and American literature.Resources included in this resource are: Bibliographies Biographies Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms Encyclopedia of African Literature Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003 Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2 vols.) Encyclopedia of the Novel Handbook of African American Literature New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics Oxford Companion to Irish Literature Penguin Classics Introductions Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory Routledge Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (2nd Edition)
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to dictionaries, language reference, Islamic studies and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy This link opens in a new window
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online covers all aspects of philosophy, providing access to over 2,700 articles that have been edited for level and consistency by a team of subject experts. Regularly updated with new and revised articles, it is an ideal entry point for further discovery and research, with over 25,000 cross-references that link themes, concepts, and philosophers.

Dictionaries and Thesauri

Aside from the Oxford English Dictionary (or OED), we have a number of other dictionaries available to you in both print and digital formats. Here is a sampling of some of the many dictionaries you will find at Bobst:

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions covering topics from the arts to the sciences.
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new window
Offers fully searchable bilingual dictionaries, and unique study materials that provide extra help with learning and using an expanding range of languages. Includes dictionaries for Arabic, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.

Dictionary of Old English, Old English corpus
Contains all surviving Old English material (over 3000 texts), excluding some variant texts. Each text includes a reference to its genre, period and language; a unique text number; a Cameron number; a short and expanded title used to identify the text in the Dictionary of Old English.
Middle English Compendium
The Middle English Compendium has been designed to offer easy access to and interconnectivity between three major Middle English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies, and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, as well as links to an associated network of electronic resources.
Middle English Dictionary (online)
The print Middle English Dictionary, now complete, has been described as "the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America." Its 15,000 pages offer a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available. This electronic version of the MED preserves all the details of the print MED, but goes far beyond this, by converting its contents into an enormo

The Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The NYU Libraries offer access both online and in print:

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
The Oxford English Dictionary is the authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.

The Oxford English Dictionary by Edmund S. Weiner (Editor); John Simpson (Editor)
Call Number: Bobst reference collection, PE1625 .O87 1989 Non-circulating
ISBN: 9780198611868
Publication Date: 1989-03-30

Etymology: researching word history

You can find reference books on etymology and word history starting at PE 1580 in the Bobst first floor Reference section. The following are reference works focused on etymology:

Cassell Dictionary of Word Histories by Adrian Room
ISBN: 9780304350070
Publication Date: 1999-05-01
This guide gives the origins and histories of over 20,000 English words. It shows when each word first appeared in written English and gives details of source languages and forms. Words derived from famous individuals, places and events are listed, and included is an explanation of how the meaning of certain words have altered over time. Examples of related words and forms are also included.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology by T.f. Hoad
ISBN: 9780192830982
Publication Date: 1993-07-29
With over 17,000 entries, this is the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to word origins available in paperback. A fascinating reference, this principal authority on the origin and development of English words contains a wealth of information about our language and its history.
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories by Glynnis Chantrell (Editor)
ISBN: 9780198631217
Publication Date: 2002-10-18
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories describes the origins and sense development of thousands of core words of the English language; dates are given where recorded evidence of use has been found sourced by the ongoing research for the Oxford English Dictionary.