New-York tribune., 1903-07-11
DICTIONARIES.
Il Lecture Full of Facts By DR.. Murray.
From The London Times.

From The London Times.
The word "dictionarium," he said, appeared
first in 1925, and. though dictionary was used
in It's modern sense in 1912. it had not then
ousted either the more correct word 'Vocabu-
larry or the fanciful titles which early compters
liked to employ. The contents Oh the
earliest dictionaries were not arranged In
alphabetical order, but under subject head
ings; it Is only since the end OF ths
sixteenth century that the alphabetical
arrangement has become universal in Eu-
rope-an arrangement which is responsible
for the wrongful application Of the title die
tionary' to any work treating Of subjects-e. g,
ca cabinet-making or national biography-in al
phabetical order. A dictionary is properly
book about words. After remarking on the ex-
treme antiquity of tabulated translations of
words from one language into another, the lect-
urer passed to English dictionaries, which he
declared to be, not the work OF one Of several
men, but a growth developed through the ages.
They began with the glosses-that is, the ex-
plantations in easy Latin or EngHsh-of hard
Latin words, written by the monks between the
lines Of the manuscripts. The CLOSES grew into
translations, and collections Of CLOSES by this
monk or that from all the sources available to
him made glossaries or dictionaries Little by
little English supplanted the easy Latin explain
ations and the words were arranged in rudi-
mentary alphabetical order thus forming so
long ago as 1000 A. D., Latin English diction-
aries The uneducated Normans overthrew
English learning; and it was not till the fifteenth
lish dictionaries, the "Promptorium and the
"Catholicon Anglicanum," were produced in this
century; and the following century, under the
influence or the Renascence brought forth Sir
Thomas Eliot's Dictionary, Barrett's Alvearie,
any many others. The year 1914 showed the be-
ginning OF the modern language school. Mary
Tudor married Louis of France, and Palsgrave
wrote for her his Reimbursement de la langue
francaise"-a heavy volume, and in the case Of
both the English and the French languages the
earliest instance Of their union with another
modern language The year that saw the Au-
thorized Version OF the Bible also diction-
aries OF English with French italian, and Span
ish and a polyglot dictionary Of eleven tongues
appeared In 1917. The Renascence filled the
English language with strange words, and In the
year 1904 was published the first attempt at
purely English dictionary, the liable Alpha
beticall" The first book with the title of IAN
English Dictionary published In 1923.
of women and other unsklfull persons" In the
year 1721 appeared the first attempt at COM
plete dictionary of the English language, re-
markable also for the introduction of the
chronological treatment OF words-that OF Ma
thaniel Bailey. His folio edition. published in
1880 was the working basis Of DR.. Johnson's
Dictionary In the reign Of Anne-an age OF
rest and subsistence from troubleS-when the
language had reached maturity. the demand
arose for standard dictionary which should TX
rect usage. Pope interested himself in the plan
II fell to Johnson 70 execute IT, at cost OF time
labor and money that far exceeded the original
calculations Of himself or his syndicate of book
sellers. The specially feature Of the work
was the quotations. all gathered by Johnson
himself, and copied by six assistants They
were printed without verifcation or reference
and the proofs were not carefully read. hence
many curious errors the confusion. for instance.
OF coco with cocoa cacao. After touching on
webster and other photographers since John
son. Dr. Murray came TO the lectures delivered
by Trench to the Pathological Society in London
Whlch dwelt on the need for improved word
history in dictionaries and so laid the founda-
ton Of the great Oxford English Dictionary
which has for fits special feature the fun and
accurate history Of each wRrd-