Technische Universität Berlin
                                        Prof. Dr. Peter Erdmann /Dr. See-Young Cho
SE: English Lexicography
WS 1999/2000  
A Brief History of English Lexicography


(1) Latin and French Glossaries
Year
Author /Editor
Dictionary
Size /Type
1440
  Promptorium Parvulorum, sivre Clericorum ("Storehouse [of words] for children or clerics") English-Latin
1476
Caxton Printing in England  
1480
Caxton A French-English Glossary (no title) French-English
1499
Caxton Promptorium "hard words"
1500
  Hortus Vocabularum ("Garden of Words") Latin-English
1533
John Withals A Shorte Dictionarie for Yong Begynners English-Latin
1538
Sir Thomas Elyot Dictionary (Bibliotheca Eliotae) Latin-English
1565
Thomas Cooper Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae ("Thesaurus of the Roman Tongue and the British") French-English

 

(2) Early English Dictionaries: The Seventeenth Century
 
Year
Author /Editor
Dictionary
Size /Type
1552
Richard Huloet Abecedarium Anglo-Latinum English-Latin-(Fr.)
1582
Richard Mulcaster Elementarie 8,000 words
1588
Thomas Thomas Dictionarium Linguae Latinae et Anglicanae Latin-English
1598
John Florio A Worlde of Words Italian-English
1604
Robert Cawdrey A Table Alphabeticall .... 2,500 words
1616
John Bullokar An English Expositor ca. 5,000 words
1623
Henry Cockeram The English Dictionarie (or An Interpreter of Hard English Words) 3 parts
1656
Thomas Blount Glossographia (or A Dictionary Interpreting all such Hard Words ... as are now used in our refined English Tongue)  
1658
Edward Phillips The New World of English Words (specialists)
1673
Thomas Blount A World of Errors Discovered in the New World of Words  
1676
Elisha Coles An English Dictionary 25,000 words

 

(3) The Beginning of Modern Dictionary Practice: The Eighteenth Century
 
Year
Author /Editor
Dictionary
Size /Type
1702
John Kersey A New English Dictionary 28,000 words (70 years)
1704
John Harris Lexicon Technicum (or An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences ...)  
1706
John Kersey, ed. Philips's New World of English Words 38,000 words
1721
Nathan Bailey An Universal Etymological English Dictionary 40,000 words (30 editions 1721-1802), etymology, word stress (1740)
1727
Nathan Bailey Volume II supplementary volume: 2 parts, 1731 ed.
1728
Ephraim Chambers Cyclopaedia (or An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences)  
1730
Nathan Bailey Dictionarium Britannicum 48,000 words
1747
Samuel Johnson Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language "to fix the language"
1749
Benjamin Martin Lingua Britannica Reformata  
1755
Samuel Johnson Dictionary 40,000 words (2 vls.)
1755
Scott et al. eds. A New Universal English Dictionary  

 

(4) Dictionaries of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
 
Year
Author /Editor
Dictionary
Size /Type
1757
James Buchanan Linguae Britannicae  
1764
William Johnston Pronouncing and Spelling Dictionary  
1764
John Entick Spelling Dictionary  
1773
William Kenrick A New Dictionary of the English Language  
1780
Thomas Sheridan A General Dictionary of the English Language "respelled"
1783
Noah Webster The American Spelling Book 260 impressions (1783-1843)
1791
John Walker Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language  
1818
  Encyclopaedia metropolitana (cf. OED)
1818
Henry Todd, ed. Johnson's Dictionary  
1820
Albert Chalmers, ed. Todd-Johnson with Walker's Pronunciations abridged edition
1828
Joseph E. Worcester, ed. Chalmers's Dictionary  
1828
Noah Webster An American Dictionary of the English Language 2 vols.
1830
Joseph Worcester Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language  
1837
Charles Richardson A New Dictionary of the English Language (cf. OED)
1841
Noah Webster An American Dictionary of the English Language new edition
1846
Joseph Worcester Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language  
(1857)
Richard Chenevix Trench On Some Deficiencies in Our English Dictionaries (cf. OED)
1860
Joseph Worcester A Dictionary of the English Language 104,000 entries, 1,800 pages
1864
Noah Porter, ed. A Dictionary of the English Language unabridged, Webster-Mahn, Merriam-Webster
1882
Charles Annandale The Century Dictionary  
1890
Merriam International Dictionary  
1893
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of the English Language  

 

(5) Dictionaries of the 20th Century 
 
Year
Author /Editor
Dictionary
Size /Type
1909
Merriam International Dictionary  
1913
Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary of the English Language 450,000 terms
1927
  The New Century Dictionary  
1928
  Oxford English Dictionary 1888-1928, 1933
1934
  Webster's New International Dictionary 600,000 entries
1938
Irving Lorge & Edward Thorndike A Semantic Count of English Words  
1947
  American College Dictionary 132,000
1947
Funk & Wagnalls New College Standard 145,000
1953
David Guralnik & Joseph Friend Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language  
1961
Philip Babcock Gove, ed. Webster's Third New International Dictionary 450,000 entries (100,000 new)
1963
Philip Babcock Gove, ed. Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary  
1966
Random House The Random House Dictionary of the English Language  
1968
Random House Random House Dictionary, College Edition (Random House College Dictionary) 155,000
1969
  American Heritage Dictionary  
1973
  Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary  
1983
  Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 160,000


© 1997-2000
 Prof. Dr. Peter Erdmann / Dr. See-Young Cho
Department of  Linguistics, Fak I, Technical University Berlin, Germany
E-Mail: chos0135@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de

 

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