Meanings
plural idiotica · plural idioticons
- A dictionary of a specific dialect, or of the words and phrases peculiar to one part of a country.
There exist in Germany several valuable Idiotica.
1854, “Idioticon”, in Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth and T. G. Bradford, editors, Encyclopædia Americana. […], new edition, volume VI, Philadelphia, Pa.: Blanchard and Lea, →OCLC, page 534, column 15 more examples
IDIO′TICON. (Gr[eek]) A word of frequent use in Germany, signifying a dictionary confined to a particular dialect, or containing words and phrases peculiar to one part of a country.
[1842, “IDIO′TICON”, in W[illiam] T[homas] Brande, assisted by Joseph Cauvin, editors, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art: […], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 585, column 1"Wische," says the Westerwald Idioticon, "expresses a quick movement connected with a whizzing or swishing sound."
1865, Hensleigh Wedgwood, “To Wipe”, in A Dictionary of English Etymology, volume III, part II, London: N[icholas] Trübner & Co., →OCLC, page 502This gentleman [Titus Tobler] certainly made a greater name by his work on Palestine than by that on the language of his native land; nevertheless this book marks a great advance in the scientific treatment of an Idioticon, particularly through the more accurate specification of the actual sounds and forms of the popular idiom.
1878 May 17, Henry Sweet, “VII.—Seventh Annual Address of the President, to the Philological Society, Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting, Friday, 17th May, 1878”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume XXIV, part II, London: Published for the [Philological] Society by Trübner & Co., […]; Strasbourg: Karl I. Trübner, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 420The ideal [Taco H.] de Beer had in mind, was an "idioticon", which he probably visualized as a dictionary comprising all the Netherlandic dialects. Idiotica were the first results also of Flemish dialectological activities.
1954, C[oenraad] B[ernardus] van Haeringen, “Dialectology”, in Netherlandic Language Research: Men and Works in the Study of Dutch, Leiden: E[vert] J[an] Brill, →OCLC, page 72[T]he Flemings, anxious that the dictionary would turn out to be too 'Hollandic', started collecting their own regional words for a general Flemish idioticon.
1992, Anton M. Hagen, “Dutch Dialectology: The National and International Perspective”, in Jan Noordegraaf, Kees Versteegh, Konrad Koerner, editors, The History of Linguistics in the Low Countries (Studies in the History of the Language Sciences; 64), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, section 1.3 (From the 18th Century till 1876), page 332Synonyms: dictionary
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA dictionary of a specific dialect, or of the words and phrases peculiar to one part of a country.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé“self (reflexive pronoun)”
- Ancient Greekἰδιωτικόν
- Late Latinidioticon
- GermanIdiotikon
- Englishidioticon
PIE word *swé Borrowed from German Idiotikon, Idioticon (archaic), from Late Latin idioticon (chiefly in the titles of works), from Ancient Greek ἰδιωτικόν (idiōtikón), the neuter singular of ἰδιωτικός (idiōtikós, “pertaining to or for a person not engaged in public affairs; private; amateurish”), from ῐ̓δῐώτης (ĭdĭṓtēs, “person not engaged in public affairs; amateur, layperson; ignorant person, idiot”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). ῐ̓δῐώτης is derived from ῐ̓́δῐος (ĭ́dĭos, “private (as opposed to public); distinct, separate; peculiar, specific”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self (reflexive pronoun)”) + -ώτης (-ṓtēs, suffix forming nouns referring to types of persons). The English word is cognate with Dutch idioticon. The plural form idiotica is derived from German Idiotika, Latin idiotica, and Ancient Greek ἰδιωτῐκᾰ́ (idiōtĭkắ).
More words from German, Late Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans idiotikon
- idiotikondictionary of a specific dialect
Dutch idioticon
- idioticondictionary of a specific dialect
Finnish murresanakirja
- murresanakirjadictionary of a specific dialect
French glossaire, lexique
- glossairedictionary of a specific dialect
- lexiquedictionary of a specific dialect
German Idiotikon, Regionalismenwörterbuch
- Idiotikondictionary of a specific dialect
- Regionalismenwörterbuchdictionary of a specific dialect
- Dialektwörterbuchdictionary of a specific dialect
- Mundartwörterbuchdictionary of a specific dialect
Greek ιδιοτικό
- ιδιοτικό (idiotikó)dictionary of a specific dialect
Hungarian tájszótár, tájnyelvi szótár
- tájszótárdictionary of a specific dialect
- tájnyelvi szótárdictionary of a specific dialect
- nyelvjárási szótárdictionary of a specific dialect
Italian dizionario dialettale
- dizionario dialettaledictionary of a specific dialect
Spanish idioticón
- idioticóndictionary of a specific dialect
Swedish dialektlexikon
- dialektlexikondictionary of a specific dialect
Cite this entry
idioticon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idioticon
“idioticon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idioticon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “idioticon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idioticon.
Source: idioticon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.