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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2008-06 > 1213172334


From: "La Greenall" <>
Subject: [Ess] Dictionaries - was Great Chishall burial
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:18:54 +0100
In-Reply-To: <200806110711.m5B7B6cn010808@mail.rootsweb.com>


The UK didn't exist in 1755, and the first dictionary came out long
before then, but you're correct otherwise, Michael. Samuel Johnson's
"Dictionary of the English language, In which the words are deduced from
their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by
examples from the best writers..." was published in London in 1755, and
a first edition currently fetches about as much as a new car with a
couple of upgrades.

"Johnson's Dictionary set the standard for all subsequent
lexicographical work. Its excellence was immediately recognized in all
quarters and the first edition of two thousand copies sold quickly. What
set Johnson's Dictionary apart from earlier efforts was his reliance on
the examples of English literature rather than his own intuition or
previous word lists or dictionaries, a method that has been the standard
ever since, from Richardson and Webster to the Oxford English
Dictionary. Johnson, in undertaking this vast work, set out to perform
singlehanded for the English language what the French Academy, a century
before, had attempted for French." [bookseller's blurb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson

The first edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English
Language" was published at New York in 1828, in 2,500 copies, and now
fetches not a lot different to Johnson's first output. Webster's use of
a succinct title speaks volumes.

"The fruit of nearly a quarter century of labor, Webster's American
Dictionary was "probably the most ambitious publication ever undertaken,
up to that time, upon American soil... Its merits at once gave it first
place among English dictionaries. It marks, indeed, a definite advance
in the science of lexicography. Webster established once for all the
practice... of freely recording non-literary words... He justly based
his definitions upon usage of American as well as British writers and
speakers, and did not hesitate to record 'Americanisms' which he deemed
worthy... His principles of definition were sound, and the definitions
themselves in many cases cannot be bettered today, for Webster was a
born definer as well as a man of encyclopedic knowledge... As a whole,
Webster's American Dictionary was a scholarly achievement of the first
order, richly deserving of its great reputation at home and abroad"
(DAB)." {bookseller's blurb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster

____

I've got a copy of "Webster's Third New International Dictionary
Unabridged and Seven Language Dictionary" which is in three folio-sized
1000-page volumes. My edition is from 1971, though it first came out in
this form in 1909.

Webster's is, first and foremost, an American dictionary of English, but
it has perhaps the best international scope of any English dictionary
I've ever seen, American, British, or any other, and I've never found
its Americanisms patronising; they're always clearly defined and in
their proper place.

For instance, under the entry for 'yeoman', meaning 2a is: "a small
farmer who cultivates his own land; specifically one belonging to a
class of ENGLISH freeholders ranking below the gentry and formerly
qualified by owning property worth 40 shillings a year to enjoy certain
legal privileges ([such] as jury duty)." [My capitals.] What clarity!

It's proved invaluable for obscure and archaic words, and for obscure
and archaic etymologies of various words; and is much more used, for
instance, than my copy of Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, if only for
its greater and deeper coverage.

I bought it from a charity shop in Epping for a tenner - if only
everything I bought was as good a bargain!

"Tenner: Meaning 1: a ten-pound note. Meaning two: a ten-dollar bill."
For an American publication to put these two meanings in this order
shows careful thought at the least. MS Office's spellchecker doesn't
understand either version!

Lawrence

-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of
Sent: 11 June 2008 08:11
To:
Subject: Re: [Ess] Great Chishall burial


I do not know the dates for Webster's Dictionary. I believe that the
first
Dictionary was published by Dr Johnson in 1755 in the UK
The full benefit of having a Dictionary did not become apparent until
after
1870 when universal education was made compulsory.
A hundred years later, spelling was not corrected in schools, but then I
digress!!!
Michael Allbrook

-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:]
On Behalf Of David Hoye
Sent: 10 June 2008 23:51
To:
Subject: [Ess] Great Chishall burial

"Mary the daughter of the widow Baron of Letchworth in the County of
Hartford [Hertfordshire]"

English language spelling was standardised with the publication of
dictionaries in the USA. Websters was reputedly the first.
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