The word dedication originated from the Latin, de and dicare, meaning away and proclaim, respectively. In the modern usage it means to devote a work, object or wealth to a cause, individual or an organization by way of respect or to show affection and togetherness. The ancient Greeks dedicated many places of worship to Aphrodite and other deities. Similarly, in many religions, places of worship had been dedicated to the saints, gods, demigods and deities. Many celebrities have dedicated much of their wealth for the cause of environmental protection, preservation of bio-diversity, poverty alleviation, education, health and similar other causes. Freedom fighters have dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom for their homelands. Missionaries have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the poor and the less privileged people. Many sculptures, paintings, poems, speeches, books and pieces of lands have been dedicated to show love and respect.

1. Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is located in the American State of Wyoming but extends to Montana and Idaho. It is known for its unique features including various ecosystems, sub-alpine forests and the Old Faithful Geyser. The Act of its Dedication states ‘An Act to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park. Be it enacted … That the tract of land in the territories of Montana and Wyoming … is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.’ The Act was approved on March 1, 1872 and was signed by James G. Blaine, Schuyler Colfax and Ulysses Grant, President of the United States.

2. Dedication to Lucy Barfield

In 1950 C.S. Lewis published his novel for children, titled The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Time magazine enlisted it in its ‘All-TIME 100 Novels.’ Lewis dedicated it to his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, writing;
‘My Dear Lucy,
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be
your affectionate Godfather,
C.S. Lewis’

3. Ronaldo’s Golden Boot

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s most expensive footballer. He is an iconic Real Madrid forward. He is also known as a big philanthropist. He sold many of his sports shoes at Real Madrid Foundation auction and became dedicated to fundraising for Gaza school children. The Real Madrid Foundation has helped building 167 schools in 66 countries. Ronaldo had donated â’š¬1.5 million to the school-going Palestinian children in Gaza. He also sold his Golden Boot, earned in 2011, and dedicated the earnings to the school children of Gaza.

4. … and to you, if you have stick with Harry

Harry Potter is the most popular series of seven fantasy novels by J.K.Rowling. It is about the adventures of a wizard Harry Potter, along with his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. The dedication reads, ‘The dedication of this book is split seven ways: to Neil, to Jessica, to David, to Kenzie, to Di, to Anne, and to you, if you have stick with Harry until the very end.’ In these, Neil is Rowling’s husband while Jessica, David, and Kenzie are her children. Anne is her mother and Di is her sister. And ‘you,’ the last but not the least, is the reader. The novel is very absorbing for the teenagers, and this dedication gives each individual the feeling as if it had been written exclusively for the reader.

5. The Encyclopædia Britannica Dedications

First published in 1768-1771, the British Encyclopedia is the oldest, most famous and most credible encyclopedia in English language. From time to time it had been updated by 4,000 full-time editors, 110 Nobel laureates, five U.S. presidents and 4,000 contributors. It had been dedicated to different people in different times and they include, ‘George the Fifth, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and to William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America.’ It had also been dedicated to George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

6. The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a huge sculpture in the form of a robed female figure, representing the Roman goddess of freedom, Libertas, bearing a torch and a tablet. On the tablet is inscribed the date of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. The statue was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and was dedicated to the people of the United States by the people of France. It is located on the Liberty Island in Manhattan, New York City. Ronal Regan, in his dedication speech, said, ‘We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see.’

7. The British Museum

Sir Hans Sloane, a physician and scientist, established the British museum in 1753, based on his personal collections. It was first opened to the public on January 15, 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, London. It contains more than 8 million works from all continents. It is the largest museum of its kind. The museum is dedicated to human history and culture, and perhaps there is no other place in the world where one can see and know so much of the human history and development of cultures under one roof. The British Museum housed both the British Library and the National Museum of Antiques until 1997.

8. A Dedication to My Wife

It had been an old tradition to dedicate a poem to a bride or bridegroom, before or after marriage. Such a dedication before marriage was known as, prothalmion while after marriage it was known as epithalamion. T.S. Eliot is one of the greatest English poets. He made an excellent use of various literary techniques, to express his feelings in the poem, A Dedication to My Wife, as in the following;
‘No peevish winter wind shall chill
No sullen tropic sun shall wither
The roses in the rose-garden which is ours and ours only

But this dedication is for others to read:
These are private words addressed to you in public’

9. Dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery

On November 19, 1863, the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered an historic speech at the occasion of the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Pointing toward the Declaration of Independence, he started the speech with the iconic phrase ‘Four score and seven years ago ‘¦’ He proclaimed that the Civil War was ‘a new birth of freedom.’ Remembering the sacrifices of those who gave their lives in Gettysburg, he said, “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

10. Mother Teresa’ s life Dedication

Mother Teresa was born to Nikollëand Dranafile Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Ottoman Empire and died on September 5, 1997 at the age of 87 years in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Her birth name was Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhi, which in Albanian meant rosebud. She dedicated all her life to the sick and hungry and believed that ‘the poor must know that we love them’ She was awarded the Nobel Prize for her invaluable services to mankind. She founded Missionaries of Charity, which ran hospices and homes for HIV, AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. Members of the order keep the four vows: chastity, poverty, obedience and to give “Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor.”

Conclusion

Legally, a dedication may be an expression of common law dedication, a statutory dedication or a dedication by adverse an user. In the case of an express dedication, the intent has to be explicitly proclaimed. In case of a statutory dedication conformance to the provisions of the relevant statute is required, as it cannot be implied from the circumstances of the case. In case of a dedication by an adverse user, the dedication results from the public use of a property with the explicit or implied permission of the owner. Although Neil Armstrong did not explicitly dedicate it to mankind, yet, what he said after stepping on moon implies a great dedication to mankind. His words were: ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’