Words, words, words

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Now here’s a sense of how far we’ve come: In the same mail delivery two books arrive that are distant cousins: ‘The First English Dictionary, 1604’ (Bodleian Library: 154 pp., $25) and ‘The New American Heritage College Dictionary,’ 4th edition (Houghton Mifflin: 1,636 pp., $26.95), which has a password for downloading applications.

Robert Cawdrey, the author of that first dictionary, was a recalcitrant 16th century preacher whose lexicon arose from his realization that plain English -- not bookishness -- was crucial in the pulpit. At the time, English was straining and changing as foreign words flooded the language. So Cawdrey devoted himself to compiling a long list of ‘hard words...gathered for the benefit & helpe of Ladies, Gentlewomen, or any other vnskillful persons.’ He called it ‘A Table Alphabetical’: no fancy flourishes of language, no literary examples of the sort Samuel Johnson later accomplished -- just the straight dope on meanings. Definitions are short, curt and sometimes a little salty for those workingmen in the congregation. A ‘eunuch’ is certainly ‘gelded,’ but just in case that meaning was still too delicate, Cawdrey added: ‘wanting stones.’ You get the idea.

Cawdrey’s spirit infuses the ‘New American Heritage Dictionary’ -- it’s still for the common man -- with the bonus of some online software. It’s embarrassing to encounter a word you’ve never used before, like ‘edamame,’ and then stumbling on it as the waitress giggles. One of the best parts of this dictionary is the audio component, which is available after downloading eReference Suite using a passkey code included with purchase (if only the downloads were a little easier). A preface by Geoffrey Nunberg reminds us that the English language is still in flux (the dictionary includes some 7,500 new terms), though the sources are different from those in Cawdrey’s day. Today, Nunberg says, ‘digital technologies have had a sweeping effect,’ which is why readers will find, for instance, the standard entry for ‘net’ followed by ‘netizen’ and ‘netiquette.’

— Nick Owchar 4/23/07