18 June 2023 Cheryl

18 June 1746: Samuel Johnson agrees to compile a dictionary

Dr Johnsons Dictionary

After 13 months studying at Oxford, Samuel Johnson was forced to leave without a degree due to unpaid fees. But he eventually did receive a degree. Just before the publication of his Dictionary in 1755, the University of Oxford awarded Johnson the degree of Master of Arts. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1765 by Trinity College Dublin and in 1775 by the University of Oxford. [1]

For decades there had been calls and proposals for a new dictionary of the English language. On 18 June 1746 Samuel Johnson, 46, a penniless, almost unknown writer in danger of the debtors’ prison was having breakfast with a group of London booksellers including Robert Dodsley and Thomas Longman when he agreed to compile this dictionary. Johnson signed a contract for the princely sum of 1,500 guineas to be paid in instalments.

Johnson took seven years to complete the work, although he had claimed he could finish it in three. He did it single-handedly, with only clerical assistance in copying. First published on 15 April 1755, A Dictionary of the English Language is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language. Johnson produced several revised editions during his life.

When it came out the book was huge, not just in scope (it contained a 42,773-long word list in 2,300 pages and defined some 80 percent of the English vocabulary of his time) but also in size: its pages were 46cm tall and 50cm wide. One of Johnson’s important innovations was to illustrate the meanings of words using literary quotations, of which there are around 114,000. The authors most frequently cited by Johnson include Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden but also included sentences taken from the popular press of his day.

Though Johnson omitted certain words for reasons of propriety, he did admit a number of “vulgar phrases.” (When Johnson was complemented by two ladies for having left out “naughty” words, he is reported to have replied, “What, my dears! Then you have been looking for them?”)

Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 173 years later, Johnson’s was viewed as the pre-eminent English dictionary. Many intriguing books have been written about the dictionary and Johnson’s struggles, delays and challenges.

Let me tell you more about Samuel Johnson and A Dictionary of the English Language:

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