New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-08-18
A PEDIGREE OF"DRUDGERY.
THE EDITOR OF THE OXFORD ENGLISH
DICTIONARY ON HIS PREDECESSORS.

THE EDITOR OF THE OXFORD ENGLISH
DICTIONARY ON HIS PREDECESSORS.
Dr. James A. H Murray, the editor of the new
oxford English Dictionary" recently delivered
the Romanes lecture for the year in the Shell
DOMAIN Theatre. He chose as his subject THE
Evolution of Lexicography." DR.. Johnson de-
fined the photographer as "a harmless drudge.
His follower in the present day sketched the
services which that drudge has rendered to
mankind. This sketch. reduced TO the baldest
terms yields the following interesting "pedi-
gree OF dictionary making:
In the seventh and eighth centuries, when
Latin was the only language of books the pos
SCISSOR of a good book frequently came across
a difficult word which lay outside the Latin
vocabulary. In such cases he often, as a help 10
himself and Others wrote the meaning over the
word in the original text in smaller hand
sometimes In easier Latin, sometimes in Eng,
lsh. Such an explanation written over a woro
of the text is gloss. Latin manuscripts of the
Middle Ages are full Of such CLOSES.
Later 1t occurred to some one to collect out or
the manuscripts to which he had access all the
CLOSES they contained, and combine them In a
list to be learned by heart consulted at need
Such a list constituted glosSarlum or gloss
airy. simultaneously with the formation OF
such glossares from the Latin, vocabularies to
the Latin were formed for teaching purposes.
Vocabularies and glossariss were frequently
combined.
When such lists of words became very long
It was seen that their usefulness would be in
creased by alphabetical arrangement or
words and phrases. The various stages In al
phabetization may be seen in four of the most
ancient glossares of English origin that we pos
sess known from the libraries to which they
now belong) as the Leiden, the Epinal, the En-
furt, and the Corpus Corpus Christi, Cam
BRIDGE.
onward to the eleventh century many vocabu-
laries were formed, all dealing with Latin words,
but all tending more and more to give the mean
ings of words in English, until the vocabularles
of the tenth and eleventh centuries are truly
Latin English. "A new aim had gradually
evolved itself the object was no longer to ex-
plain difficult Latin words, but to give the Eng
lish equivalents of as many words possible,
and thus practically to provide Latin diction-
airy for the of Engishmen."
For three hundred years after the Conquest
English photography stood still, but with the
revival Of English a literary and legal tongue
more Iatin-English dictionaries notably the
"Ortus Vocabuorum" of Wynkyn de Worde-
were produced. The next advance the pro-
duction Of English-Latin as distinct from Latin
English vocabulartes The "Promptorium Par
vulorum," or Children's Repository GAO, Is the
famous example.
with the Renaissance came renewed activity,
and in 1888 the first Latin vocabulary to be
called dictionary published by Sir
Thomas Elyot. 1t was followed in 1854 by
WithaIs "a Short Dictionarie for Young Be
ginners" ending with the words. Thus endeth
this Dctonarie very useful for Children
Latin had been the essential element in all
dictionaries. French and Italian were taken
account of in the fine French English dictionary
of Randall CotgraVe and the Italian English
dictionary of John Florio, both published in
1911.
In 1904 Robert Cawdrey supplied the germ of
the modern English dictionary, in his Table
Alphabetical Of Hard Words" and in 1916 came
DR.. John Bullokar's English Expostor" on the
same lines.
the title of THE English Dictonarie," by Henry
Cockeram. This is a curiosity and mine of in
structon. It's hard words include abregate, ito
lead out of the flock; acersecomick zone whose
hair never CUT; Incorporated married. :
balbulcitate. Ito cry like cowboy; collocupli-
cate, Ito enrich; adecasttck, "one who will do
Just WhosoeVer."
In Cockerams "Dictionarie." blunder is given
with the meaning, ito bestir oneself and garble
the equivalent of ito clense things from
dust" The second part is intended to teach a
learned style. The plain man may write a let
ter in his natural language, and then, by turning
up the simple words in the dictionary, alter them
into their learned equivalents Thus abound"
plenty" into liberty" "he and of one age"
into eve coetaneous," youthful babbIing"
into Juvenile inaniloquence"
BIount's "GIossographia' took the field in
1886, and went through many editions to 1907
Many other dictionaries appeared, including that
of Nathaniel Bailey whose Universal Etymo-
logical English Dictionary appeared In 1721
and obtained such hold that editions continued
to appear long after DR.. Johnson's dictionary
1t contained diagrams and proverbs. According
to Sir John Hawkins DIR. Johnson used an inter
leaved copy of Baileys dictionary as the basis
In 1871 Bailey marked the stress accent q
step in the direction of indicating pronunciation
In 1913 appeared the dictionary which had
long been projected by the booksellers and had
at length been intrusted to DR.. Johnson John
sons great work." says DR.. Murray, raised
English photography altogether to higher
level In his hands it became department of
literature" "a
In 1871 John WaIker-following Bailey Dr
kenrfck and others-systematized English
orthoepy.
Only two independent contributions to the
development of photography were made In the
earlier half Of the nineteenth century These
were the American dictionaries of Webster ana
Richardson, the former valuable for its def1ni-
lions but weak in its etymologies the latter al
most scorning definitions, but rich in illustra
tive quotations.
Dr. Trench's paper. read before the Philolog-
lcal Society about fifty years ago on some
Tendencies in Existing English Dictionaries "
pointed out that all the dictionaries neglected
the history OF words and omitted thousands 90
rare ana obsolete words He also insisted thai
complete dictionary must be the work OF many
collaborators. From this impulse arose the
movement NOV which has eliminated in the prepare
ton or the oxford English Dictionary" "Tt
can be maintained" says DR. Murray "that -
the oxford dictionary. permeated as II is
through and through with the scientific method
OF the century, photography has for tho nrea
1hs' feacheo Its supreme development"