the first english dictionary, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica the first english dictionary e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE FIRST ENGLISH DICTIONARY In the 18th century many people felt that it was necessary to establish a standard language as had been done for French and Italian. This feeling was typical of an age which tried to rationalise all human activities, including language that had to be classified. The way was paved by Ephraim Chambers'Cyclopaedia, the first modern encylopaedia. In 1746 a group of London publishers asked the most learned writer of the age, Samuel Johnson, to compile a dictionary of the English language. Johnson worked at the dictionaty from 1745 to its publication in 1755. The amount of the reading Johnson did in compiling the dictionary was impessive. This procedure gave the dictionary a historical basis; great writers became the autorities in matters of language. Johnson dictionary also covered etymology, and the definitions demonstrate the changes in the meanings of the English words. The different meanings of the words are put in order and some are explained by using quotations taken from important contemporary authors such as Locke or Swift. Johnson's definitions reflect his many prejudices; the conservative satirist and the nationalist are clearly discerible behind some of the entries.