Johnson’s Editorial Lexicography

Abstract

In his editions of Sir Thomas Browne’s Christian Morals (1756) and of Roger Ascham’s English Works (1761) Samuel Johnson provided many definitions of words (or particular senses of words) that are absent in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755). These editorial glosses constitute hidden acts of lexicography: they are assembled herewith as addenda to Johnson’s Dictionary . The similarity between Johnson’s editorial glosses and his dictionary definitions suggests that as a lexicographer he was often interpreting contextual usage rather than seeking, like some lexicographers, the general meanings of words.