Summa and its diminutive summula (plural summae and summulae , respectively) was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin , born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they might be considered texts that 'sum up' knowledge in a field, such as the compendiums of theology , philosophy and canon law . Their function during the Middle Ages was largely as manuals or handbooks of necessary knowledge used by individuals who would not advance their studies any further.
63-405: It was a kind of encyclopedia that developed a matter about Law , Theology or Philosophy most of all. Matters were divided in a more detailed way as it was in the tractatus ( treatise ), since they were divided into quaestiones (questions) and these ones were also divided into articles . The articles had the following structure: Some historians of theology cite Origen 's peri archon as
126-428: A CD-ROM disc. The user would execute the encyclopedia's software program to see a menu that allowed them to start browsing the encyclopedia's articles, and most encyclopedias also supported a way to search the contents of the encyclopedia. The article text was usually hyperlinked and also included photographs , audio clips (for example in articles about historical speeches or musical instruments), and video clips . In
189-605: A Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts'), better known as Encyclopédie ( French: [ɑ̃siklɔpedi] ), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes . It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert . The Encyclopédie
252-734: A compendium of articles (either wholly or partially taken) from a specific encyclopedia. Four major elements define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production: Some works entitled "dictionaries" are similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages , the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships , and Black's Law Dictionary ). The Macquarie Dictionary , Australia's national dictionary, became an encyclopedic dictionary after its first edition in recognition of
315-539: A definite order of topics, although varying in their arrangement. The first great summist was Peter Lombard (died 1160), author of the Books of Sentences and surnamed "Master of Sentences". The order of topics in the Books of Sentences is as follows: In the first place, the topics are divided into res and signa, or things and signs. "Things" are subdivided into: the object of our happiness, God — to this topic Peter devotes
378-440: A global or a limited range of knowledge), cultural perspective (authoritative, ideological, didactic, utilitarian), authorship (qualifications, style), readership (education level, background, interests, capabilities), and the technologies available for their production and distribution (hand-written manuscripts, small or large print runs, Internet). As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found
441-534: A license compatible with Misplaced Pages, including Enciclopedia Libre (2002–2021) in Spanish and Conservapedia (2006–), Scholarpedia (2006–), and Citizendium (2007–) in English, the latter of which had become inactive by 2014. Regent master Regent master ( Magister regens ) was a title conferred in the medieval universities upon a student who had acquired a master's degree . The degree meant simply
504-404: A particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries . Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning the subject named in
567-405: A prominent place in libraries , schools and other educational institutions. The appearance of digital and open-source versions in the 21st century, such as Misplaced Pages (combining with the wiki website format), has vastly expanded the accessibility, authorship, readership, and variety of encyclopedia entries. Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around
630-432: A publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). " Summæ ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Encyclopedia An encyclopedia ( American English ) or encyclopaedia ( British English ) (from Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία meaning 'general education') is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge , either general or special, in
693-410: A systematic manner the apparent contradiction among the conflicting opinions presented. Besides this method of exposition, the twelfth-century summists adopted dialectic definitely as a means of elucidating, not only philosophical, but also theological truth. Finally the summists adopted more or less unanimously a fixed division of the field of theology and philosophy, and adhered more or less closely to
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#1732757700089756-590: Is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house. The first edition originated in the Conversations-Lexikon published by Renatus Gotthelf Löbel and Franke in Leipzig 1796–1808. Renamed Der Große Brockhaus in 1928 and Brockhaus Enzyklopädie from 1966, the current 21st thirty-volume edition contains about 300,000 entries on about 24,000 pages, with about 40,000 maps, graphics and tables. It
819-416: Is a linguistic work that primarily focuses on an alphabetical listing of words and their definitions . Synonymous words and those related by the subject matter are to be found scattered around the dictionary, giving no obvious place for in-depth treatment. Thus, a dictionary typically provides limited information , analysis or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave
882-619: Is also found in dictionaries, and vice versa. In particular, dictionary entries often contain factual information about the thing named by the word. The earliest encyclopedic work to have survived to modern times is the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder , a Roman statesman living in the 1st century AD, a work indebted to Varro (1st century BCE). He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history , architecture, medicine, geography , geology, and all aspects of
945-577: Is highly esteemed by moralists and economists. The "Compendium theologicæ veritatis" of Hugh Ripelin of Strasburg (d. 1268) is the most widespread and famous manual of the Middle Ages. The chief manual of confessors is that of Paul of Hungary composed for the Brothers of St. Nicholas of Bologna (1220–21) and edited without mention of the author in the "Bibliotheca Casinensis" and with false assignment of authorship by Raymund Duellius . The "Summa de Poenitentia" of Raymond of Pennafort , composed in 1235,
1008-598: Is most famous for representing the thought of the Enlightenment . According to Denis Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the Encyclopédies aim was "to change the way people think" and for people to be able to inform themselves and to know things. He and the other contributors advocated for the secularization of learning away from the Jesuits . Diderot wanted to incorporate all of the world's knowledge into
1071-496: Is necessary to know". Among the areas covered were: grammar , rhetoric , mathematics , geometry , music , astronomy , medicine , law , the Catholic Church and heretical sects, pagan philosophers , languages , cities , animals and birds , the physical world , geography , public buildings , roads , metals , rocks , agriculture , ships , clothes , food , and tools . Another Christian encyclopedia
1134-501: Is the largest German-language printed encyclopedia in the 21st century. In the United States, the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of several large popular encyclopedias, often sold on installment plans. The best known of these were World Book and Funk and Wagnalls . As many as 90% were sold door to door . Jack Lynch says in his book You Could Look It Up that encyclopedia salespeople were so common that they became
1197-648: The Etymologiae ( c. 600–625 ), also known by classicists as the Origines (abbreviated Orig .). This encyclopedia—the first such Christian epitome —formed a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 books based on hundreds of classical sources, including the Naturalis Historia . Of the Etymologiae in its time it was said quaecunque fere sciri debentur , "practically everything that it
1260-649: The Four Great Books of Song , compiled by the 11th century during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau , amounted to 9.4 million Chinese characters in 1,000 written volumes. The Yongle Encyclopedia (completed 1408) comprised 11,095 volumes. There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including
1323-459: The Encyclopédie and hoped that the text could disseminate all this information to the public and future generations. Thus, it is an example of democratization of knowledge . The Encyclopædia Britannica ( Latin for 'British Encyclopaedia') is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia . It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although
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#17327577000891386-565: The GNUPedia , an online encyclopedia which, similar to the GNU operating system , would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's GNU philosophy. It was not until Nupedia and later Misplaced Pages that a stable 💕 project was able to be established on the Internet. The English Misplaced Pages , which was started in 2001, became
1449-629: The Renaissance , the creation of printing allowed a wider diffusion of encyclopedias and every scholar could have his or her copy. The De expetendis et fugiendis rebus by Giorgio Valla was posthumously printed in 1501 by Aldo Manuzio in Venice . This work followed the traditional scheme of liberal arts. However, Valla added the translation of ancient Greek works on mathematics (firstly by Archimedes ), newly discovered and translated. The Margarita Philosophica by Gregor Reisch , printed in 1503,
1512-400: The civil law schools of Occitanie specially regarding Justinian's Institutiones . The teaching of Theology and Philosophy during the Middle Ages had two different ways: lectio and disputatio : These two school methods originated their literary forms: There are more or less sixty extant summae in this field, including: [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from
1575-555: The 11th edition and following its acquisition by an American firm, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its appeal to the North American market. In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule. In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with
1638-496: The CD-ROM age, the video clips had usually a low resolution, often 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Such encyclopedias which made use of photos, audio and video were also called multimedia encyclopedias . Microsoft 's Encarta , launched in 1993, was a landmark example as it had no printed equivalent. Articles were supplemented with video and audio files as well as numerous high-quality images. After sixteen years, Microsoft discontinued
1701-709: The Encarta line of products in 2009. Other examples of CD-ROM encyclopedia are Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and Britannica . Digital encyclopedias enable "Encyclopedia Services" (such as Wikimedia Enterprise ) to facilitate programmatic access to the content. The concept of a 💕 began with the Interpedia proposal on Usenet in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included Everything2 and Open Site . In 1999, Richard Stallman proposed
1764-719: The Greek alphabet. From India, the Siribhoovalaya (Kannada: ಸಿರಿಭೂವಲಯ), dated between 800 A.D. to 15th century, is a work of Kannada literature written by Kumudendu Muni , a Jain monk. It is unique because rather than employing alphabets, it is composed entirely in Kannada numerals . Many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work. The enormous encyclopedic work in China of
1827-459: The Roman authors Quintillian and Pliny described an ancient genre. The modern encyclopedia evolved from the dictionary in the 18th century; this lineage can be seen in the alphabetical order of print encyclopedias. Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been compiled by well-educated, well-informed content experts , but they are significantly different in structure. A dictionary
1890-572: The Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves – to give its full title. Organized alphabetically, its content does indeed contain an explanation not merely of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but of the arts and sciences themselves. Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ( French for 'Encyclopedia, or
1953-431: The article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words , such as their etymology , meaning, pronunciation , use, and grammatical forms. Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years and have evolved considerably during that time as regards language (written in a major international or a vernacular language), size (few or many volumes), intent (presentation of
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2016-404: The authors of these works are called, is the adoption of the method first suggested by Gerbert in his "De Rationali et Ratione Uti", and used by Abelard in his "Sic et Non", consisting in an exposition of contradictory views, the affirmative and negative. Progress towards the final form of the thirteenth-century "Summæ" is marked by the greater care which was taken, as time went on, to explain in
2079-449: The butt of jokes. He describes their sales pitch saying, "They were selling not books but a lifestyle, a future, a promise of social mobility." A 1961 World Book ad said, "You are holding your family's future in your hands right now," while showing a feminine hand holding an order form. As of the 1990s, two of the most prominent encyclopedias published in the United States were Collier's Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Americana . By
2142-483: The combination of textbook and doctor's dissertation. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas , begun when Aquinas was Regent Master at the studium provinciale at Santa Sabina the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum , is often considered the most perfect specimen of this kind of literature. The term "Summulæ" was used, for the most part, to designate
2205-400: The company has changed ownership seven times. The encyclopaedia is maintained by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, which spans 32 volumes and 32,640 pages, was the last printed edition. Since 2016, it has been published exclusively as an online encyclopaedia . Printed for 244 years, the Britannica was
2268-478: The digital multimedia encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta , and later with the online peer-produced encyclopaedia Misplaced Pages . In March 2012, it announced it would no longer publish printed editions and would focus instead on the online version. Britannica has been assessed as being more politically centrist compared to Misplaced Pages, which is considered to have a more left-leaning orientation. The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie ( German for Brockhaus Encyclopedia )
2331-400: The dryness and unattractiveness of the medieval "Summæ", these works have many merits from the point of view of pedagogy, and a philosophical school which supplements, as Scholasticism did, the compendious treatment of the "Summæ", with the looser form of treatment of the "Quæstiones Disputatæ" and the "Opuscula", unites in its method of writing the advantages which modern philosophy derives from
2394-431: The first book; means of attaining this object, viz., creatures — the topic treated in the second book; virtues, men and angels, that is, special means of happiness and subjects of happiness — the topic of the third book; the fourth book is devoted to signs: the sacraments. How far Peter Lombard was influenced by earlier summists, such as Robert Pullen , Hugh of St. Victor and the author of the " Summa Sententiarum " which
2457-630: The first summary of Catholic theology. Others consider that the first in point of time is "De Trinitate" by St. Hilary of Poitiers . The distinction has also been accorded to Radulfus Ardens , an eleventh-century theologian and preacher, a native of Beaulieu , author of a comprehensive "Speculum Universale", still in Manuscript. In this wide sense of the word, however, the encyclopedic treatises of St. Isidore of Seville , Rabanus Maurus etc., entitled "De Etymologiis" or "De Universo" might also be considered to be summaries of theology and philosophy. In
2520-544: The future years to come. Diderot The word encyclopedia ( encyclo | pedia ) comes from the Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία , transliterated enkyklios paideia , meaning 'general education' from enkyklios ( ἐγκύκλιος ), meaning 'circular, recurrent, required regularly, general' and paideia ( παιδεία ), meaning 'education, rearing of a child'; together, the phrase literally translates as 'complete instruction' or 'complete knowledge'. However,
2583-402: The globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our offspring, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race in
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2646-452: The late 20th century, encyclopedias were being published on CD-ROMs for use with personal computers . This was the usual way computer users accessed encyclopedic knowledge from the 1980s and 1990s. Later, DVD discs replaced CD-ROMs, and by the mid-2000s, internet encyclopedias were dominant and replaced disc-based software encyclopedias. CD-ROM encyclopedias were usually a macOS or Microsoft Windows (3.0, 3.1 or 95/98) application on
2709-529: The logical compendiums which came to be adopted as texts in the schools during the thirteenth century. The best known of these is the "Summulæ Logicales" of Peter Hispanus , afterwards Pope John XXI. Manuals of theology and more especially manuals, or summae, on penance for the use of confessors were composed in great numbers. The oldest Dominican commentaries on the "Sentences" are those of Roland of Cremona , Hugh of Saint Cher , Richard Fitzacre , Robert of Kilwardby and Albertus Magnus . The series begins with
2772-570: The longest-running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh , in three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size; the second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (1801–1810), it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th (1875–1889) and 11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style. Starting with
2835-426: The reader lacking in understanding the meaning, significance or limitations of a term , and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge. To address those needs, an encyclopedia article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an individual word, but provides a more extensive meaning for a subject or discipline . In addition to defining and listing synonymous terms for
2898-411: The resources by themselves, so multiple publishers would come together with their resources to create better encyclopedias. Later, rivalry grew, causing copyright to occur due to weak underdeveloped laws. John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only
2961-803: The right to teach, the Licentia docendi , a right which could be granted, in the University of Paris , only by the Chancellor of the Cathedral of Notre Dame , or the Chancellor of St. Geneviève. According to the Third Council of Lateran , held in 1179, this Licentia docendi had to be granted gratuitously, and to all duly qualified applicants. If the new member stayed in the university and continued to take an active part in its teaching, he
3024-608: The scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) with his Dream Pool Essays of 1088; the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen (active 1290–1333) with his Nong Shu of 1313; and Song Yingxing (1587–1666) with his Tiangong Kaiwu . Song Yingxing was termed the " Diderot of China" by British historian Joseph Needham . Before the advent of the printing press, encyclopedic works were all hand-copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it. During
3087-564: The stricter sense of the word, "Summa" is applied to the more technical systematic compendiums which began to appear in the twelfth century. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , the form was invented by the grammarian Peter Helias . An alternative title is "Sentences" (Latin Libri Sententiarum ), the diminutive, "Summulæ", being of later origin. What is peculiar to "summists" or "sententiaries", as
3150-494: The summa (derived from the similia ), and the questio legitima (derived from the contraria ). The summa was born in the minor Law schools whose aim was to instruct their students with easy summaries of the Justinian codes. In order to achieve this goal, easy, simple and systematic summaries of whole works were made, and the literary genre of the summae in the legal area was born. The summae were developed specially in
3213-535: The things for which those words stand. Thus, while dictionary entries are inextricably fixed to the word described, encyclopedia articles can be given a different entry name. As such, dictionary entries are not fully translatable into other languages, but encyclopedia articles can be. In practice, however, the distinction is not concrete, as there is no clear-cut difference between factual, "encyclopedic" information and linguistic information such as appear in dictionaries. Thus encyclopedias may contain material that
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#17327577000893276-473: The topic, the article can treat the topic's more extensive meaning in more depth and convey the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject. An encyclopedia article also often includes many maps and illustrations , as well as bibliography and statistics . An encyclopedia is, theoretically, not written to convince, although one of its goals is indeed to convince its reader of its veracity. In addition, sometimes books or reading lists are compiled from
3339-520: The two separate words were reduced to a single word due to a scribal error by copyists of a Latin manuscript edition of Quintillian in 1470. The copyists took this phrase to be a single Greek word, enkyklopaedia , with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the Neo-Latin word encyclopaedia , which in turn came into English. Because of this compounded word, fifteenth-century readers since have often, and incorrectly, thought that
3402-464: The use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns. There are some broad differences between encyclopedias and dictionaries. Most noticeably, encyclopedia articles are longer, fuller and more thorough than entries in most general-purpose dictionaries. There are differences in content as well. Generally speaking, dictionaries provide linguistic information about words themselves, while encyclopedias focus more on
3465-526: The world around him. This work became very popular in Antiquity , was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1470, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the Roman world, and especially Roman art , Roman technology and Roman engineering . The Spanish scholar Isidore of Seville was the first Christian writer to try to compile a summa of universal knowledge,
3528-837: The world's largest encyclopedia in 2004 at the 300,000 article stage. By late 2005, Misplaced Pages had produced over two million articles in more than 80 languages with content licensed under the copyleft GNU Free Documentation License . As of August 2009, Misplaced Pages had over 3 million articles in English and well over 10 million combined articles in over 250 languages. Today, Misplaced Pages has 6,916,807 articles in English, over 60 million combined articles in over 300 languages, and over 250 million combined pages including project and discussion pages. Since 2002, other 💕s appeared, including Hudong (2005–) and Baidu Baike (2006–) in Chinese, and Google's Knol (2008–2012) in English. Some MediaWiki-based encyclopedias have appeared, usually under
3591-436: The year 1230 if not earlier and the last are prior to the middle of the thirteenth century. The "Summa" of St. Thomas (1265–75) is still the masterpiece of theology. The monumental work of Albertus Magnus is unfinished. The "Summa de bono" of Ulrich of Strasburg (d. 1277), a disciple of Albert is still unedited, but is of interest to the historian of the thought of the thirteenth century. The theological summa of St. Antoninus
3654-415: Was a classic during the Middle Ages and was one of the works of which the manuscripts were most multiplied. The "Summa Confessorum" of John of Freiburg (d. 1314) is, according to Johann Friedrich von Schulte , the most perfect product of this class of literature. The Pisan Bartolommeo of San Concordio has left us a "Summa Casuum" composed in 1338, in which the matter is arranged in alphabetical order. It
3717-422: Was a complete encyclopedia explaining the seven liberal arts . Financial, commercial, legal, and intellectual factors changed the size of encyclopedias. Middle classes had more time to read and encyclopedias helped them to learn more. Publishers wanted to increase their output so some countries like Germany started selling books missing alphabetical sections, to publish faster. Also, publishers could not afford all
3780-483: Was called a magister regens , a practising teacher. If he were to look for another career, however, he would become non regens : a passive member of the corporation of masters, without losing his affiliation to it, which usually lasted for life. An example of regent master was William Vorilong , French philosopher of the Middle Ages. This article relating to education is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This cultural history -related article
3843-515: Was immediately inspired by Abelard's work, historians have not determined. It is generally admitted that the Lombard was not entirely original. He deserves his renown as the first great summist chiefly because, in spite of the opposition which his work met during his lifetime, its influence grew greater in time, until in the thirteenth century it was universally adopted as a text. Notwithstanding all that hostile critics of Scholasticism have said about
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#17327577000893906-586: Was the Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum of Cassiodorus (543–560) dedicated to the Christian divinity and the seven liberal arts. The encyclopedia of Suda , a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, had 30,000 entries, many drawings from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The text was arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and placed in
3969-416: Was very successful in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The manuals for confessors of John Nieder (d. 1438), St. Antoninus , Archbishop of Florence (d. 1459), and Girolamo Savonarola (d. 1498) were much esteemed in their time In the area of Law, the summa is a practical and didactic genre, that was developed from the methodology of the gloss . It was divided into two different literary genres:
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