Lexicon senses in context

The entry and the occurrence

A dictionary groups attestations under a headword and often separates senses by construction or context. Lewis’s entry for dīvidō in Perseus cites the Caesar phrase about Gaul and also records other uses of the verb. The citation is valuable because it connects this occurrence to a sense in an established lexicon. It does not mean every gloss in the entry fits the sentence.

Start with the grammatical frame: who or what is divided, what prepositional phrase follows, and whether the form is active or passive. Compare dictionary examples from similar frames. A plausible meaning in another period, genre or construction is a candidate, not a verdict. Keep the sense number or subentry label if the lexicon has one, and record the edition of the dictionary.

When the lexicon is thin

A rare word may have one or two cited occurrences. The lexicographer may rely on a bilingual list, a restored line or later parallels. Identify which kind of evidence supports the English gloss. If a sense rests on one disputed reading, say so in the translation note. A tool’s concise preview can hide the entry’s qualifications; open the full entry and its cited passage.

A search with no match is also limited evidence. It says the queried layer of that resource returned none. Search spelling variants and comparable corpora before arguing that a word or sense did not exist.

Practice

Open the linked dīvidō entry. Locate its Caesar citation and one different construction. Explain why the same English word is or is not suitable in both. Keep your answer tied to the Latin contexts rather than a list of English synonyms.