Chrestomathy

Chrestomathy (/krɛsˈtɒməθi/ kres-TOM-ə-thee; from the Ancient Greek χρηστομάθεια “desire of learning” = χρηστός “useful” + μανθάνω “learn”) is a collection of choice literary passages, used especially as an aid in learning a subject.

In philology or in the study of literature, it is a type of reader which presents a sequence of example texts, selected to demonstrate the development of language or literary style. It is different from an anthology because of its didactic purpose.

Examples

• Bernhard Dorn, A Chrestomathy of the Pushtu or Afghan language, St. Petersburg: 1847
• Mencken, H. L., A Mencken Chrestomathy, New York: Alfred P. Knopf, 1949
• Zamenhof, L. L., Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto, Paris: Hachette, 1903
• Edward Ullendorff, A Tigrinya Chrestomathy, Stuttgart: Steiner Werlag Wiesbaden GmbH, 1985.
• Bilingual Greek-Latin Grammar, by Georgios Dimitriou, 1785, that contained personal observations, Epistles and Maxims, as well as biographies of notable men.

See also

• Anthology
• Use of the Lord's Prayer as a language comparison tool