Words in Dictionaries and History

Bringing together fifteen articles by scholars in Europe and North America, this collection aims to represent and advance studies in historical lexis. It highlights the significance of the understanding of dictionary-making and language-making as important socio-cultural phenomena. With its general focus on England and English, the book investigates the reception and development of historical and modern English vocabulary and culture in different periods, social and professional strata, geographical varieties of English, and other national cultures. The volume is based on individual (meta)lexicographical, etymological, lexicosemantic and corpus studies, representing two large areas of research: the first part focuses on the history of dictionaries, analysing them in diachrony from the first professional dictionaries of the Baroque period via Enlightenment and Romanticism to exploring the possibilities of the new online lexicographical publications; and the second part looks at the interfaces between etymology, semantic development and word-formation on the one hand, and changes in society and culture on the other.

Kate Wild, in International Journal of Lexicography, Volume 24, Number 4, December 2011. Pages 487-492:
The volume is edited to a high standard. As David Vancil remarks in the preface to this collection, Rod McConchie is well-known not only for his published work, but for his insightful comments and questions at conferences. In keeping with this spirit of academic dialogue, the articles not only add to our knowledge of the history of dictionaries and the history of words, but prompt further questions and avenues of research. This Festschrift is a tribute to its celebrant while also standing on its own as a useful addition to the field.