From: lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Subject: Bailey's 1736 dictionary excerpts online
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 06:31:29 GMT

[hmm, did I omit a News Group?]

I own a copy of Bailey's Dictionary, from 1736 or so.  It's a large (some 800
folio pages!) dictionary, and one of those to which Johnson referred.

I have a hundred or maybe 200 entries marked up in SGML.  Actually the DTD
is still evolving, but that's another story.

I wondered if anyone would be interested.

If I could find an appropriate newsgroup, I could post a word a day or
something, I suppose, as I seem to keep adding to the thing.

Here are a couple of sample entries.  As you can image, many of them
are quite entertaining.

Lee

[1] an entry taken out of SGML:
A'scii [A'`skioi, Greek, of a, Greek, privat. and skia`, Greek, a Shadow]
    those Inhabitants of the Globe, who at certain Times in the Year, have
    no Shadow at 12 a Clock, such are the Inhabitants of the Torrid Zone,
    by reason that the Sun is sometimes Vertical to them.

[2] an entry in SGML:

<ENTRY><HEADWORD>Snow</HEADWORD>
<DEFINITION><ETYMOLOGY>
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Saxon">Snaw</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Su">sniu</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Danish">snee</DERIVATION>
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Dutch">sneuw</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="G">schnee</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="French">Niege</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Italian">Neve</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Spanish">Nieve</DERIVATION>,
<DERIVATION LANGUAGE="Latin">Nix</DERIVATION></ETYMOLOGY>

<TEXT>is a moist vapour, elevated near to the middle region of the air,
whence it is thickened into a cloud and reduced into the form of carded
wool, then falling down by little parcels. The white colour of snow
proceeds from the conjunction of humidity with cold, which naturally
engenders the whiteness.
If snow falls in summer-time, it is caused by
the high mountains, which, cooling the lower region, give bodies unto
vapours, and cause them to descend as low as the earth.</TEXT>

<SUBENTRY><HEADWORD>Snow</HEADWORD><DEFINITION>
<EXPLICATION>according to the learned Dr. <PERSON WHAT="Dr.">Grow</PERSON></EXPLICATION>
<TEXT>as to the form of it, has many parts of it a regular figure, for
the most part being as so many little rowels or stars of six points,
being perfect and transparent ice, as may be seen upon a vessel of
water; upon which six points are set other collateral points, and these
always at the same angles, as are the main points themselves.
</TEXT></DEFINITION></SUBENTRY>

<TEXT>From whence the true notion and external nature of <HW>Snow</HW>seems
to appear, viz, that not only some few parts of <HW>Snow</HW>, but originally
the whole body of it, or of a snowy cloud, is an infinite mass of icicles,
regularly figured, and not one particle of it originally being irregular.
</TEXT>

<TEXT>It being a cloud of vapours gathered into drops, which drops forthwith
descend; upon which descent, meeting with a soft freezing wind, or at least
passing through a colder region of the air, each drop is immediately froze into
an icicle, shooting itself forth into several points or <KW>Stri&ae;</KW> on
each hand from its center. </TEXT>

<TEXT>And as to any of them that are not regular in a star like form it happens
thus; that still continuing their descent, and meeting with some sprinkling and
intermixing gales of warmer air, or, in their continual motion and waftage to
and fro, touching upon each other; some are a little thawed, blunted, frosted,
clumper'd, and others broken.</TEXT>

<TEXT>And these, though they seem to be soft, are really hard, because true
ice, the inseparable property of which is to be hard, and seem only to be soft;
because upon the first touch of the finger, upon any of its sharp edges or
points, they instantly thaw, or else they would pierce the fingers as so many
lancets.</TEXT>

<TEXT>And tho' snow be true ice, and so a hard and dense body, and yet it is
very light, is because of the extreme thinness of each icicle in comparison to
its breadth.</TEXT>

<TEXT>For so, tho' gold is the most ponderous of all bodies, yet when it is
beaten into leaves, it rides upon the least breath of air; and so will all
other bodies where there is but little matter and large dimensions.
As to the whiteness of snow, it is because it consists of parts,
all of them singly transparent; but being mixed together appear white,
as the parts of froth, glass, ice, and other transparent bodies.</TEXT>
</DEFINITION></ENTRY>

[DTD (and Author/Editor 2.1 Ascii Styles File!) available on request...]

Lee

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