1604 and 1702: Why These Dates Matter in English Lexicography

Conventional wisdom holds that Johnson single-handedly conceived and produced A Dictionary of the English Language. Though he gave up several years of full-time work to the Dictionary, Johnson wasn’t the first professional lexicographer: John Kersey, author of A New English Dictionary, published in 1702, probably owns that distinction.

Robert Cawdrey published his Table Alphabeticall in 1604 in order to help interpret the many difficult and uncertain new words as well as to demonstrate their true orthography. He was followed in this project by John Bullokar, Henry Cockeram, ...

Cawdr(e)y, Robert. 1604. A Table Alphabeticall, conteyning and teaching the true vvriting, and vnderstanding of hard vsuall English wordes, … London: Printed …

The first English dictionary of military terms was published anonymously in 1702 under the title A Military Dictionary. However, one glossary of this nature had already been attached to Robert Barret’s (Anon. 1702)The Theorike and...

While he does deal with neologisms and "inkhorn" terms, and while the Table's epistle and introductory passage do address concerns about the nature of language as it was currently being used, the matter of this dictionary suggests that Cawdrey's chief concern was didactic; he hoped to provide the meanings and fixed forms of the many difficult words that would be encountered both in the writing and the speech of the time. For today's reader, the Table provides insights into Early Modern life, as well as valuable linguistic and lexicographic information.

A treasure-trove of linguistic oddity and history for the bibliophile, budding lexicographer, or obsessive Scrabble player, The First English Dictionary, 1604 reveals the roots of our language in all its eccentric glory.

Robert Cawdrey's (1604) dictionary is actually called A Table Alphabetical of Hard Usual English Words. It provides some early illustrations describing use of the English language. As this interest in describing (and prescribing) use of the English language developed, so did lexicography, the craft of making dictionaries.

Though the first English dictionary dates back to 1604, it was Webster and his 1828 volume that was credited with capturing the language of the new nation.

In 1604, Robert Cawdrey, who had been a schoolmaster at Okeham, and afterwards at Coventry, published a modest octavo of 120 pages, 5½ inches by 3½, calling itself The Table Alphabeticall of Hard Words, in which he set forth the proper spelling and meaning of some 3,000 of these learned terms; ...