The Theory of English Lexicography, 1530-1791

Abstract

This book serves as a welcome addition to the better known English Dictionary from Cawdrey to Johnson, 1604-1755 , by Starnes a Noyes (new edition published by Benjamins 1991). Whereas Starnes a Noyes describe the history of English lexicography as an evolutionary progress-by-accumulation process, Professor Hayashi focuses on issues of method and theory, starting with John Palsgrave’s Lesclarissement de la langue francoyse (1530), to John Walker’s A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791). This book also includes a detailed discussion of Dr. Johnson’s influential Dictionary of the English Language (1755).