Two different ways of explaining the meaning or content of sememes (the most basic units of meaning in the semiotic system, normally understood as language).
The dictionary model is based on the assumption that there are a finite number of sememes in which all other units of meaning (All other sememes) can be separated. The Tree of Porphyry, also known as scala praedicamentalis, named after the late Greek philosopher Porphyrios or Porphyry, [232-303], gives an example of one such a “dictionary”. Everything can be distinguished as immaterial or material (spiritual and bodily substances), in turn, all bodies (material substances) can be distinguished into animate and inanimate (spirited and unspiritualized), living beings, in turn, can be divided into carnivores and herbivores, etc.
In contrast, the model of the encyclopedia offers to show the way in which the content of any sememe was created in and through its connections with virtually all other units of meaning. Encyclopedias need to be constantly updated, as what is considered a fact at a given time is often denied in the light of later research. But encyclopedias include information about what has been accepted as fact at a given time by a group. This information is considered part of the meaning of the term.
The full meaning of “sun” as sememe should take into account that for certain crops it was a golden chariot blazing in the sky, and today it is perceived as a star or a huge gas mass in the process of a continuous explosion.
While the vocabulary compiled according to the requirements of the Porphyrios definition concept will be a series of dichotomous branches, the encyclopedia will be a wide, complex network where one could move from one node to another, although this would require long detours.
