gazetteer

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English[edit]

WOTD – 17 May 2024

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from French gazettier (archaic), gazetier (“journalist, newspaperman”) + English -eer (suffix forming agent nouns denoting people associated with or engaged in a specified activities).[1] Gazettier, gazetier are derived from gazette (“newspaper”) + -ier (suffix denoting a profession); and gazette from Italian gazzetta, from Venetian gazeta, from gazeta dele novità (literally “a gazeta of news”) (referring to the cost of the newspaper, a gazeta being a Venetian coin of little value, whence English gazet (obsolete)), possibly a diminutive of Latin gaza (“riches, treasure; treasury”), ultimately from Old Median *ganǰam (“treasure; wealth”). The English word is analysable as gazette +‎ -eer.

Noun[edit]

gazetteer (plural gazetteers)

  1. (archaic or historical)
    1. A person who writes for a gazette or newspaper; a journalist; (specifically) a journalist engaged by a government.
    2. A person who sells gazettes or newspapers; a newspaper vendor.
  2. (by extension, obsolete) A gazette, a newspaper.
    • 1742, Henry Fielding, “A Dialogue between Mr. Abraham Adams and His Host, which, by the Disagreement in Their Opinions Seemed to Threaten an Unlucky Catastrope, had It Not been Timely Prevented by the Return of the Lovers”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, pages 306–307:
      The Hoſt look'd ſtedfaſtly at Adams, and after a Minute's ſilence aſked him "if he vvas one of the VVriters of the Gazetteers? for I have heard," ſays he, "they are vvrit by Parſons." "Gazetteers!" anſvvered Adams. "What is that?" "It is a dirty Nevvs-Paper," replied the Hoſt, "vvhich hath been given avvay all over the Nation for theſe many Years to abuſe Trade and honeſt Men, vvhich I vvould not ſuffer to lie on my Table, tho' it hath been offered me for nothing."
    • 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 134, lines 557–560:
      Confus'd above, / Glaſſes and bottles, pipes and gazetteers, / As if the table even itſelf vvas drunk, / Lie a vvet broken ſcene; […]
    • 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 3:
      All the common-place lamentations upon the decay of trade, the encreaſe of taxes, and the high price of labour and proviſions, are here retailed again and again in the ſame tone vvith vvhich they have dravvled through columns of Gazetteers and Advertiſers for a century together.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
person who writes for a gazette or newspaper — see journalist

Etymology 2[edit]

The noun is derived from The Gazetteer’s, or Newsman’s Interpreter (1st edition, 1692), the name of a geographical index compiled by the English clergyman and historian Laurence Echard (c. 1670 – 1730);[1] in the preface he said “The Title was given me by a very eminent Person, whom I forbear to name.” The preface also stated that the work was “partly design’d for all such as frequent Coffee-Houses, and other places for News”,[2] that is, to help readers better understand the newspapers written by gazetteers or journalists (see etymology 1).

The verb is derived from the noun.[3]

Noun[edit]

gazetteer (plural gazetteers)

  2. (geography) A dictionary or index of geographical locations.
    • 1704, [Laurence Echard, compiler], “The Preface”, in The Gazetteer’s or Newsman’s Interpreter. The Second Part. Being a Geographical Index of All the Empires, Kingdoms, Islands, Provinces, Peninsula’s: As also, of the Cities, Patriarchships, Bishopricks, Universities, Forts, Castles, &c. in Asia, Africa and America. […], London: […] Thomas Newborough […], and George Sawbridge […], →OCLC, signature A2:
      The kind Reception the Gazetteer has met vvith in the VVorld, manifeſted by the ſeveral Editions that have been of it, vvithin the compaſs of a fevv Years; and indeed, the Conveniency of a Compendious Undertaking of this kind, have induced us to go on vvith a ſecond Part, comprehending the other three Quarters of the VVorld, viz. Aſia, Africa and America; ſince the firſt had confin'd it ſelf entirely vvithin the Boundaries of Europe.
    • 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Spenser”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 137:
      The "Polyolbion" [by Michael Drayton] is nothing less than a versified gazetteer of England and Wales,—fortunately Scotland was not yet annexed, or the poem would have been even longer, and already it is the plesiosaurus of verse. Mountains, rivers, and even marshes are personified, to narrate historical episodes, or to give us geographical lectures.
  3. (by extension, obsolete) An alphabetical descriptive list of anything.
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

gazetteer (third-person singular simple present gazetteers, present participle gazetteering, simple past and past participle gazetteered)

  1. (transitive, geography) To describe the geography of (a country or other place) in a gazetteer (etymology 2, sense 1).
    • 2002, W. Francis, Gazetteer of South India, volumes 1-2:
      The success of the gigantic undertaking has been unparalleled: few countries, if any, are more thoroughly gazetteered than India.
Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “gazetteer, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “gazetteer, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ Lawrence Eachard [i.e., Laurence Echard], compiler (1692) “The Preface”, in The Gazetteer’s, or Newsman’s Interpreter: Being a Geographical Index of All the Considerable Cities, Patriarchships, Bishopricks, Universities, Dukedoms, Earldoms, and such like; Imperial and Hance Towns, Ports, Forts, Castles, &c. in Europe. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Salusbury […], →OCLC, signature A2, verso.
  3. ^ “gazetteer, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading[edit]

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