Johnson's Dictionary: A Modern Selection

by E. L. McAdam & George Milne, George Milne (Editor), E.L. McAdam Jr. (Editor)

Johnson's complete 1755 Dictionary runs to 2,300 pages of definitions and literary examples, a preface, a history of the language, and a grammar. The Cassell modern selection is a mere 463 pages, but an excellent start. This is a highly individual, often idiosyncratic dictionary, and most people now check entries more for verbal pleasure and historical curiosity than usage. Though Johnson began his dictionary in a prescriptive mode--he would tell the reader what was right and what not--he ended by being surprisingly descriptive. There is of course his concern with low words and his loathing of cant, his self-knowing definitions of grubstreet ( "Originally the name of a street in Moorfields in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems...") and lexicographer ("a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge..."). In their introduction, E. L. McAdam and George Milne point out that Johnson "had no prejudice against merely vulgar words, and may have enjoyed them." He does, after all, include among other phrases, fart, complete with two examples. Jonathan Swift's is hilarious, John Suckling's surprisingly wistful: "Love is the fart / Of every heart; / It pains a man when 'tis kept close; / And others doth offend, when 'tis set loose." Among other acute joys are the forward-looking verb to foreslack, "To neglect by idleness," and the first entry under to hoodwink, which awakens one to its physical beginnings, "To blind with something bound over the eyes."

Genres: Reference, Classics, Language, Nonfiction, Dictionaries, History

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Benjamin Carsley]

im a sucker for a good etymology

[Jonathan Jerden]

Terrific. 7 years of single-handed labor he sent to his publisher in 1755 2,300 pages, containing some 43,000 words, some with more than 100 definitions, incorporating for the first-time pronunciation, Greek and/or Roman etymology, and an example of how others had used the word - many from Milton, Shakespeare, Pope, and Jonathan Swift. Although a dozen attempts were made by English lexicographers over the previous century to provide guides to words for academics, nothing came close to Johnson's seminal "Dictionary of the English Language" in depth and breadth.

This is a modern abridged version, of maybe 5,000 of the 'best' examples, of how he covered the words he chose. Takeaways: Shakespeare had no reference guides whatsoever, and none of the Greek & Roman classics had yet to be translated into English, so, too, Cervantes' Don Quixote was just published in Spain and only available in Spanish. So . . . Shakespeare guessed at spellings and meanings, and when needing a word or a phase to mean something that he hadn't yet come across, he made it up . . . lots of new words and phrases, making it necessary that we read him with a guide annotating liberally. Further, many (most?) words from Johnson's time have changed . . . both their spelling and definition.

[David]

I never imagined that I would have read a dictionary of any sort from cover to cover. What makes this selection of Johnson's remarkable achievement so readable is that the editors have chosen the entries which either highlight unusual words or those definitions which reflect Johnson's own character. A must for any language buff.

[Jade]

This was interesting so far as it was reference material for my degree.

[George King]

This book is a treasure; for example, Johnson denfines "oats" as a grain fed to horses in England, but consumed by people in Scotland.

[KeeOfTheArchives]

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