Meaning of encyclopedia (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Encyclopedia:

The encyclopedia is a work that compiles knowledge in the area of ​​science, art or a trade.

The word encyclopedia derives from the Greek concept enklyklios paideia that arises from the combination of the prefix en- that indicates "inside", kyklos that means "circle" or "wheel" and paideia that refers to education. The Greeks used this concept to refer to the books necessary for the proper education of children that included human, scientific and artistic knowledge.

From the Greek word derives the Latin encyclopaedia that refers to "compendiums of knowledge".

The format with which we know encyclopedias today, was taken from the first collective effort to compile, compile and create human knowledge available and relevant in the 18th century by the French André Le Breton (1708-1779) as the representative of the publisher, and Denis Diderot (1713-1784) as author and main editor of the modern encyclopedia.

Today encyclopedias cover more specific topics such as, for example, the legal encyclopedia, medical encyclopedia, design encyclopedia, architecture encyclopedia, economics encyclopedia, art encyclopedia, among others.

In addition, the format of the encyclopedias has gone from the written press, to CD-ROMs to be installed on computers, to current online encyclopedias or virtual encyclopedias such as wiki pages.

Features of the encyclopedia

Modern encyclopedias have been based on the first published encyclopedia of Le Breton and Diderot in the 18th century.

The encyclopedia adopted a thematic structure inspired by the tree of human knowledge of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and an edition that took René Descartes' “Discourse on Method” as a reference.

Encyclopedias are characterized by encompassing knowledge on a topic or several topics in a didactic, orderly, relevant and neutral way.

History of the encyclopedia

The original name of the first published encyclopedia is L'encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers translated into Spanish as the encyclopedia or dictionary of knowledge of sciences, arts and crafts, from which we obtained the notion of modern encyclopedia.

The encyclopedia was originally intended by André Le Breton as a translation of the Cyclopaedia Britannica of 1728. In 1742 Le Breton managed to recruit for his project the philosopher Denis Diderot and the mathematician and philosopher Jean D'Alembert (1717-1783) who transformed the work in a much broader knowledge project.

The encyclopedia had more than 150 collaborators among them: Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot and D'Alembert who inspired the rest of Europe to imitate this example, thus completing the work that compiles the knowledge of the eighteenth century, at the time of the Enlightenment.

During the 19th century, the encyclopedia came to have 166 volumes and was called the Encyclopedie méthodique , translated into Spanish as a methodical encyclopedia.