THE NEW KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDATION DICTIONARY

Jacek Fisiak, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

English-Polish, Polish-English with CD-ROM

Contains over 140,000 entries with 400,000 meanings and 100,000 idioms, including British and other usage

THE DICTIONARY FEATURES:

- technical and specialized vocabulary in such areas as law, economics, computers, the military and medicine, mass media, sports, and sciences.

- literary and colloquial expressions, slang, archaic usage words in context, illustrated by original sentences.

THE CD-ROM CONTAINS:

- all entries from both volumes

- grammatical information and phonetic transcription

- lets user search words, copy directly into documents, personalize by adding and deleting entries

- many other features

THE NEW KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDATION DICTIONARY

Culminating five years of a monumental, bicontinental effort, the New Kosciuszko Foundation Dictionary was published in August 2003. Anticipated for more than four decades, its appearance has filled a gaping void in the arena of bilingual dictionaries.

In 1959 the Kosciuszko Foundation published an English-Polish dictionary. This was followed, in 1961, with a Polish-English volume. Authored by Professors Kazimierz Bulas, Francis J. Whitfield and Lawrence L. Thomas, the bilingual dictionary served as an overt example of the Foundation's long-standing mission of promoting and strengthening cultural, historical and scholarly understanding and friendship between the peoples of Poland and the United States. In many circles it became the Foundation's most widely known and recognized "calling card".

For more than forty years these original two volumes filled the gap among serious bilingual dictionaries available for other languages in the United States and they served generations of general readers, students, academics and translators on both sides of the Atlantic. During these years the Dictionary was reprinted as many as thirteen times.

While there had been attempt to update the prior dictionary, it was not until 1998 that a project to publish a completely new dictionary was undertaken. It became evident that an update of the existing two-volume dictionary was not feasible more than 40 years after first publication. Rapid world changes during the last half of the twentieth century with a proliferation of new words and new meanings to existing words dictated the need for a totally new dictionary.

The New Dictionary contains over 140,000 head-words, 400,000 meanings and 100,000 idioms and fixed phrases. It is 60% larger than the previous two volumes and is one of the largest English-Polish, Polish-English dictionaries ever published. The dictionary is primarily addressed to native speakers of Polish but also can be successfully used by native English speakers.

The richness of lexical information including not only everyday usage but also technical terminology, literary language, archaic words and expressions, etc. makes the dictionary an indispensable tool in the hands of the translator, the university student of English and the intermediate and advanced learner of the language. It is basically an American English dictionary although specific British and other usages of English are also included.

The lexicographic work on the new dictionary was done in Poznan under the direction of Professor Jacek Fisiak, Head of the School of English of the Adam Mickiewicz University, who served as the project's Editor-in-Chief, supervising die team of experienced, professional lexicographers and consultants.

Dr. Michal Jankowski, Head of the Adam Mickiewicz University's Computer Center, served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Editor of the English-Polish volume was Professor Arleta Adamska-Salaciak, Head of the Adam Mickiewicz University's Department of Lexicography and Lexicology. Editors of the Polish-English volume, were Professor Piotr Gasiorowski and Drs. Marcin Feder and Maciej Machniewski, School of English of the Adam Mickiewicz University.

A U.S. Advisory Committee consisting of Professor Michael Mikos, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Professor Robert A. Rothstein, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Professor Oscar E. Swan, University of Pittsburgh and Professor Charles E. Townsend, Princeton University assisted the Polish team of lexicographers for current American usage.

A well known firm in the field of conventional and new technology printing services m Cracow, TAiWPN Universitas, under the direction of Dr. Andrzej Nowakowski, was responsible for the printing, distribution and promotional aspects of the project. The five-year project was financed principally from the "Stanislaus Chylinski Endowment Fund" established at the Kosciuszko Foundation in 1974. The project's financing was also assisted by a number of institutions and individuals. These include a major grant provided by the Fundacja na Rzecz Nauki Polski (Foundation for Polish Science �FNP) of Warsaw, Poland.

Significant support in the United States was provided by the following organizations: the Polish National Alliance of Brooklyn USA, the Polish-Slavic Credit Union, Brooklyn, New York and the Rockefeller Foundation. Financial assistance for the Dictionary was also provided by the New England Chapter of the Kosciuszko Foundation, the Western New York Chapter of the Kosciuszko Foundation, the United Poles Federal Credit Union of Perth Amboy, New Jersey; the Association of the Sons of Poland, Carlstadt, New Jersey; Slaska Wytw�rnia W�dek Gatunkowych Polmos S. A. of Bielsko Biala, Poland; the Central Council of Polish Organizations Pittsburgh and the Polish Falcons Alliance of America of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Equally important to the success of the project was individual support received, among others from Joseph E. Gore, Esq. and Mrs. Eugenia F. Gore; Irene Pyszkowski, Ph.D.; Mr. Witold S. Sulimirski, in memory of Professor Tadeusz Sulimirski; Mr. and Mrs. John and Janet Skibiski; Mr. John Czaplinski; Mr. Tom and Mrs. Kathy Podl; Mrs. Mildred H. Tyszka and Ms. Helen Mary M. Tyszka, individually and in memory of George S. Tyszka and Stanley J. & Helen Sleziak; Mr. Philip W. Cadieux, and Mr. and Mrs. John and Elizabeth Chludzinski.

The New Kosciuszko Foundation Dictionary is available for purchase directly from the Kosciuszko Foundation and retailers world-wide. All proceeds from the sale of the dictionary will be used to further the Kosciuszko Foundation's educational and cultural programs and activities.

From: The Kosciuszko Foundation, Inc., Annual Report 2005