In 1852, the publishing house Longman released a reference work whose aim was “to supply, with respect to the English Language, a desideratum hitherto unsupplied in any language, namely, a collection of the words it contains and of the idiomatic combinations peculiar to it, arranged, not in alphabetical order as they are in a Dictionary, but according to the ideas which they express.” I speak, of course, of Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases written by physician-librarian Peter Mark Roget.

The word thesaurus was borrowed from the field of archeology where it referred to the treasures of a temple. In Roget’s sense, the temple became the mind and its contents were word knowledge.

Roget’s Thesaurus was sustained by the Roget family for three generations. In the 1930s, its popularity soared, as hordes of fanatic crossword puzzlers found treasured answers in Roget’s storehouse of words.

Recently, Gage released its Canadian Thesaurus. The question must be asked, is a Canadian thesaurus really necessary? On its cover, Gage shows the word entry idea, followed by approximately 40 synonyms including “abstraction,” “construct,” “theory,” and “thought.” All of these synonyms can be found in other thesauruses.

However, in Gage’s introduction, the editors point out that its thesaurus “incorporates vocabulary unique to Canada, uses Canadian spellings, and omits usage and vocabulary that are strictly British or American.”

A quick perusal of Gage’s pages reveals several Canadianisms. For example, the words fawn and flatter reveal the synonyms “suck up to” and “bootlick” respectively in Gage, but not in Roget. Other unique Canadian synonym pairings I spotted included angry-ticked off or teed off, as well as boisterous-slaphappy.

In short, a flavour of Canadian vocabulary is provided in Gage Canadian Thesaurus to whet the appetite of Canadian writers, and particularly those writing fiction.

Gage has also recently released its Canadian School Thesaurus which is targeted for ages 8-13 and for teaching English as a second language. It is a colourful, user-friendly manual replete with synonyms, antonyms, and example sentences. It highlights many “confusable words,” such as “principal” meaning “main,” and “principle” meaning “basic idea.” Many charts are provided, which detail nuances of language, such as 15 different types of singers (like alto and soprano), and 20 types of headgear (like tuque and yarmulke).

To its pre-adolescent audience, it conveys the concept that words are “cool” and that possessing a varied vocabulary makes you a more interesting person. To entice the prospective logophile, two pages of word puzzles are provided at the front. Personally, I would have employed more puzzle pages to highlight the recreational potential of language.

English is the only language that is blessed with a plethora of thesauruses. Now, as speakers of Canadian English, we are fortunate that Gage has provided us with two volumes from which Canadians of all ages can extract word treasures.