|
Post by Pete on Apr 24, 2008 6:18:40 GMT
I am currently revising and up-dating a textbook that I wrote a couple of years ago. But why is it called a "textbook"? By far the majority of books contain mainly text (I accept that there are exceptions, such as comic books and some children's books), so why is it that only books used for educational or professional development purposes are called "textbooks"?
There is nothing helpful in the definitions in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
|
|
|
Post by Dave M on Apr 24, 2008 8:37:12 GMT
I'd always assumed that the "textbook" is the book that contains the particular texts which are to be studied in the subject. (We might recall that "grammar" schools tended to teach language - rhetoric, etc - and not much on geography, mathematics or science, so the subject matter would be essentially that of particular texts.)
As you say, though, Pete, the dictionaries don't seem to follow that line. My Chambers version, to hand, says a text book is one "containing the leading principles of a subject" - so perhaps one which sets out what we need to learn in text form (as opposed to one which merely asks questions, as a prompt for debate?).
It is only in looking that up that I noticed that the word "text, tekst, n. the actual words of a book, poem, etc ..." derives from the same source as textile (woven fabric), both coming from the Latin texere, to weave.
Another day, another delight!
|
|
|
Post by Barry on Apr 24, 2008 12:16:19 GMT
Pete, Yes, the etymology doesn't seem to work logically, does it? I think we just have to stick with the definition that this particular word has accrued over the centuries! After all, an anthology isn't a collection of pressed flowers, either
|
|
|
Post by Trevor on Apr 28, 2008 11:23:16 GMT
Nor, indeed, a collection of pressed ants.
|
|