Chaos and old night
-
Elizabeth Knowles
Abstract
When we encounter an unfamiliar quotation, we typically ask where it comes from. However, identification of the source may only be a starting point, from which we can trace the quotation’s later life within the language. This paper will take the phrase chaos and old night, originally from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and trace the main branches of its life within the English language, a path which ultimately links Milton with a twenty-first century journalist. In the course of this exploration, the paper will also consider how the quotation in question is likely to have been handled by dictionaries of quotations.
Abstract
When we encounter an unfamiliar quotation, we typically ask where it comes from. However, identification of the source may only be a starting point, from which we can trace the quotation’s later life within the language. This paper will take the phrase chaos and old night, originally from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and trace the main branches of its life within the English language, a path which ultimately links Milton with a twenty-first century journalist. In the course of this exploration, the paper will also consider how the quotation in question is likely to have been handled by dictionaries of quotations.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
-
Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Tabula gratulatoria vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction xiii
-
Part I. History of dictionaries
- The Flores of Ouide (1513) 3
- “Halles Lanfranke” and its most excellent and learned expositive table 17
- John Lane’s Verball 41
- The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot’s Dictionary (1538) 55
- Music amidst the tumult 79
- Chaos and old night 91
- Online dictionaries of English slang 109
-
Part II. Word history and cultural history
- Old English etymologies in Christfrid Ganander’s Nytt Finskt Lexicon (1787) 131
- The origin of the word yeoman 153
- Early East India Company merchants and a rare word for sex 169
- From denominal to deverbal 193
- A gente Anglorum appellatur 219
- William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past 233
- Contempt 249
- A lexical skirmish 269
- Index of subjects 287
- Index of personal names 291
