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pandect (PAN-dekt) noun
1. A comprehensive digest or complete treatise. 2. pandects. A complete body of laws; a legal code. 3. Pandects. A digest of Roman civil law, compiled for the emperor Justinian in the sixth century A.D. and part of the Corpus Juris Civilis. In this sense, also called Digest. [Latin pandectes, encyclopedia, from Greek pandektes, all-receiving : pan-, + dektes, receiver (from dekhesthai, to receive, accept).] "These phenomena were memorialized in the novels of Zola, themselves accumulations between covers of a vast aggregation of sedulously recorded trivia. Flaubert had his contemporaries' number, however. Looking askance at this pretence to pandects, the empirical mastering of all knowledge on a given topic and the boiling it down to easily swallowed doses, he reduced it to absurdity in his savant idiots Bouvard and Pecuchet." Laurence Senelick, Double Vision: Second Empire Theatre in Stereographs, Theatre Research International, Spring 1999. This week's theme: words about books and writing. ............................................................................. The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (1809-1882) [The Descent of Man] Send your comments about words to anu@wordsmith.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe A.Word.A.Day, send a message to wsmith@wordsmith.org with "Subject:" line as "subscribe <Your Name<" or "unsubscribe". Archives, FAQ, gift subscription form, and more at: http://wordsmith.org/awad/ Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/pandect.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/pandect.ram
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