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1440
Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum
It’s an English-Latin dictionary, first English, then several Latin equivalents. Printed in 1499. It contains 12.000 entries. Written in the dialect of East Anglia. -
Period: 1440 to
The Evolution of English Lexicography
Lexicography is an important branch of linguistics which covers the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries.The history of lexicography goes back to Old English where its first traces are found in the form of glosses of religious books with interlinear translation from Latin. Regular bilingual English-Latin dictionaries already existed in the 15th century. -
A Table Alphabeticall, containing and teaching the true writing and understanding of hard usuall English words borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine or French
The first unilingual English dictionary written by Robert Cawdrey, explaining words by English equivalents, appeared in 1604. It was meant to explain difficult words occurring in books. It contains 2.500 entries. -
A New English Dictionary
First English Dictionary by John Kersey to include common words as well as ‘hard’ ones (28.000 entries). -
Universal Etymological English Dictionary
“Universal Etymological English Dictionary” was published in 1721. It was the first attempt of a dictionary including all the words of the language. Nathaniel Bailey was the first to include pronunciation and etymology. -
A Dictionary of the English Language in Which the Words are Deduced from Their Originals and Illustrated in Their General Significations by Examples from the Best Writers: In 2 vols
The dictionary was complied by Dr Samuel Johnson and published in 1755. The most important innovation of S. Johnson's Dictionary was the introduction of illustrations of the meanings of the words by examples from the best writers. -
A complete dictionary of the English language with regard to sound and meaning. One main object of which is to establish a plain and permanent standard of pronunciation to which is prefixed a prosodial grammar
A pronouncing dictionary that must be mentioned first was published in 1780 by Thomas Sheridan, grandfather of the great dramatist. -
The Oxford English Dictionary
The objective of this dictionary is to trace the development of English words from their form in Old English. The dictionary includes spellings, pronunciations and detailed etymologies. The completion of the work required more than 75 years. -
The English Dialect Dictionary
"The English Dialect Dictionary" by Joseph Wright included 16,000 dialectal forms across two main sections: 'Phonology', which gave a historical description of the development of sounds in dialect; and 'Accidence', which gave details on grammar and especially on morphology. It is regarded as a standard work in the historical study of dialect. -
The 2nd edition of the Oxford English Dictionary
In 1989, the 2nd edition of the OED, in 20 volumes, edited by John Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner, was published. This edition contained 290.500 entries and 2.412.400 quotations. -
Oxford English Dictionary Online
It was launched 14 March. The online database contains the entire OED2 and is updated quarterly with revisions that will be included in the OED3. The online edition is the most up-to-date version of the dictionary available. -
Historical Thesaurus of the OED
The Historical Thesaurus of the OED is a unique resource charting the semantic development of the huge and varied vocabulary of English. It is the first comprehensive historical thesaurus ever produced for any language, and contains almost every word in English from Old English to the present day. It includes 800,000 words and meanings, in 235,000 entry categories.
