Music amidst the tumult
-
Giles Goodland
Abstract
Johnson’s Dictionary bears a complicated relation to literary language. A large proportion of the illustrative quotations that Johnson used came from poetry. However, comments in the Preface, and elsewhere show that he had ambivalent feelings towards poetic language. When reading the Dictionary against a Concordance of Johnson’s own poems and plays, mediated by his explanations of what types of words were omitted in the Preface, it becomes clear that Johnson did not include in the Dictionary several words that he himself had used in his own poetry and plays. I list these words, with a short explanation of why words from Johnson’s active vocabulary might not have made it into the Dictionary.
Abstract
Johnson’s Dictionary bears a complicated relation to literary language. A large proportion of the illustrative quotations that Johnson used came from poetry. However, comments in the Preface, and elsewhere show that he had ambivalent feelings towards poetic language. When reading the Dictionary against a Concordance of Johnson’s own poems and plays, mediated by his explanations of what types of words were omitted in the Preface, it becomes clear that Johnson did not include in the Dictionary several words that he himself had used in his own poetry and plays. I list these words, with a short explanation of why words from Johnson’s active vocabulary might not have made it into the Dictionary.
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
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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
