Books in the Ashgate Critical Essays on Early English Lexicographers series

Part of a series of five volumes that enshrines the collective achievement of English lexicographers from the Old English period to the eighteenth century, this title analyzes the growth of English vocabulary over nine hundred years. It is suitable for students of lexicography and English literature, textual history and bibliography.

The teaching of Latin remained important after the Conquest but Anglo-Norman now became a language of instruction and, from the thirteenth century onwards, a language to be learned. The works and techniques of Latin scholars such as Adam of Petit Point, and John of Garland were influential throughout the period. This book deals with this topic.

Laying the foundations for the first monolingual dictionaries of English, this title shows that the sixteenth century in English lexicography forms a bridge between the glossarial compilations which had slowly evolved during the Middle Ages, and the more recognisably modern dictionary incorporating synonymy, illustrative, and citations.

Features essays that discuss not only the internal history of lexicography but also its wider relationships with culture and society.

The eighteenth century is renowned for the publication of Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language", which reference sources still call the first English dictionary. This title demonstrates the inaccuracy of that claim, but its tenacity in the public mind testifies to how decisively Johnson formed our sense of what a dictionary is.