April 29: Roget’s Thesaurus (1852)
Prayer Idea
Pray for yourself and others to choose the right words in order to communicate clearly, honestly, and kindly.
History Note
Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) was born in London to French Huguenot parents. His father died when Peter was young, and the family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland. There Roget began his study of medicine. He worked as both a physician and an educator.
In 1805 Roget created a personal system of classifying and organizing words according to their meaning. During his career, he used this catalogue of words to improve his own writing. In 1848 he finally made time to expand his original system. On April 29, 1852, he published the first edition of his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition.
Roget organized the 1,000 entries in his Thesaurus into six sections:
I Abstract Relations
II Space
III Matter
IV Intellect
V Volition
VI Affections
The full volume featured 15,000 words, so Roget also created an alphabetical appendix that helped users find references to different meanings of a single word.
The word “thesaurus” is from the Latin for “treasury”. For the rest of his life, Peter Roget continued to work on his treasury of words, overseeing the publication of 28 editions. His son John and grandson Samuel continued the work. With changes in format and updates in content, Peter Roget’s original concept continues to serve writers today.
Photo of Peter Roget by Ernest Edwards, courtesy the National Library of Medicine.
Learn More
Jen Bryant is the author of The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus. In this interview, she talks about Peter Roget and her interest in his life.
Find other resources at Homeschool History, including a recording of Paul Harvey talking about Peter Roget on his radio program The Rest of the Story.
