Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A selection of literary passages, usually by one author.
- n. An anthology used in studying a language.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A collection of extracts and choice pieces, especially from a foreign language, with notes of explanation and instruction: as, a Hebrew chrestomathy.
Wiktionary
- n. A collection of written passages, used to learn an unfamiliar language.
- n. A collection of choice passages from an author or authors.1982, Mencken, H. L, A Mencken Chrestomahty, Vintage Books:
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A selection of passages, with notes, etc., to be used in acquiring a language.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a selection of passages from different authors that is compiled as an aid in learning a language
Etymologies
- Greek khrēstomatheia : khrēstos, useful (from khrēsthai, to use; see gher-2 in Indo-European roots) + -matheia, body of learning (from manthanein, math-, to learn; see mendh- in Indo-European roots).
Examples
“No division of literature, perhaps, would serve better as a kind of chrestomathy for illustrating the positions on which the scheme of this series is based.”
The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II)
“The lengthy chrestomathy (more than 40 pages in the recently released trade paper edition) is based on at least two actual reference works and provides not only an understanding of the words, but often their etymology and usages.”
Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh « A Progressive on the Prairie
“The lengthy chrestomathy [5] (more than 40 pages in the recently released trade paper edition) is based on at least two actual reference works and provides not only an understanding of the words, but often their etymology and usages.”
A Progressive on the Prairie » Book Review: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh » Print
“The volume is a chrestomathy (i.e. a selection of readings) "intended primarily for students who have covered the essentials of Syriac morphology and syntax" (p.viii) and as such it makes a logical place to go next when one has completed John Healey's Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in Syriac.”
“And so all who are interested in Syriac language and literature, for whatever reason, will surely be grateful to Martin Zammit and to Gorgias Press for this chrestomathy.”
“For instance, Nestle's classic Syriac grammar and chrestomathy lacks many of the features that make Zammit's so helpful for students at this stage.”
“Meanwhile, I'm enjoying working on Syriac, and trying my hand at not only the Peshitta but also a new chrestomathy i.e. selection of texts published by Gorgias Press, `Enbe men Karmo Suryoyo.”
“There are other potentially useful resources for Syriac online: Eberhard Nestle's Syriac grammar with chrestomathy for those who have a good grasp of German, the Syriac grammar and Elements of Syriac by Philips, and the Syriac grammar by Uhlemann.”
“Another lovely gift from mollpeartree, who discovered both volumes of this chrestomathy sheltering in the dim recesses of the Printer's Row Book Fair one year.”
“The seventy-nine pages of the present chrestomathy do indeed represent a convenient gathering of Samuel Beckett's recent activities; but they are neither very recent nor, in the crude, quantitative sense, very copious.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chrestomathy’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1073 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Gram-Lang
pleonastic, synecdoche, solecism, virgule, fricative, altiloquent, chrestomathy, orthography, mondegreen, polysemy, zeugma, Syllepsis and 6 more...
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carolinacc's list
jettisoned, yearn, chrestomathy, catachresis, elation, gesundheit, ohne, tertium quid, iota, oscillation, argillous, flagrate and 67 more...
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Collections
Have I made this list before? Has someone else collected these words together? I can't remember, so I'm just going to start storing some things here.
collection, omnium-gatherum, sylloge, antiphonary, anthology, bestiary, cartulary, dossier, sampler, assortment, variety, hodgepodge and 61 more...
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Not quite love
prolix, pleonastic, senescence, autochthonous, loup, pronk, onomatopoeia, magisterial, rixatrix, esurient, blowsabella, crapulence and 43 more...

chained_bear "'A trustworthy Turkish scholar would be unspeakably welcome—a Godsend. At present we have to make do with a most pitiful ancient one-eyed Greek eunuch and Dupin's chrestomathy. But would Mr. Graham ever consent to serve?'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 225 Feb 14, 2008
sionnach In philology or in the study of literature, it is a type of reader or anthology which presents a sequence of example texts, selected to demonstrate the development of language or literary style. Oct 6, 2007