A History Of The Thesaurus
The Beginning The word thesaurus as we understand it today has evolved over the years. From the Greek thēsauros, meaning “treasury” or “storehouse.” Those in the Middle Ages used the word “Thesaurer” to refer to a treasurer. The word thesaurus, back then, referred to places that stored the treasure we call words. But, not quite in the “gathering of synonyms” kind of way. No, at first, it was used to describe what we’d think of today as dictionaries....