Reconsidering the Initial Development of the Dictionaries of Americanisms: Pickering’s Legacy in Bartlett’s Dictionary (1849)

By November 23, 2016,
Page 597-607
Author Kusujiro Miyoshi
Title Reconsidering the Initial Development of the Dictionaries of Americanisms: Pickering’s Legacy in Bartlett’s Dictionary (1849)
Abstract It has widely been acknowledged among authorities that the application of scientific lexicographical principles in American English dictionaries is pioneered by John Bartlett’s first edition of Dictionary of Americanisms (1849), the second American English dictionary. The general recognition about the dictionary is that it divorced from John Pickering’s Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases [...] (1816), which is usually regarded as a normative dictionary compiled for the purification of the language in America. Actually, however, when we collate the Dictionary with the Vocabulary, it becomes clear that more than 10% of entries in the Dictionary is heavily dependent on the Vocabulary, in terms of explanations of words and citations, as well as verbal examples which Pickering uniquely made, signifying the fact that the Vocabulary was an indispensable basis for Bartlett to compile his historic Dictionary. Here, the credibility of Reinhard Hartmann’s (1986:vii) saying is strengthened, which goes “Most dictionaries have forerunners, and all have imitators”, in the development of American English dictionaries.
Session Historical and Scholarly Lexicography and Etymology
Keywords Bartlett; Pickering; American; history; dictionary
BibTex
@InProceedings{ELX2016-066,
author={Kusujiro Miyoshi},
title={Reconsidering the Initial Development of the Dictionaries of Americanisms: Pickering’s Legacy in Bartlett’s Dictionary (1849)},
pages={597-607},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th EURALEX International Congress},
year={2016},
month={sep},
date={6-10},
address={Tbilisi, Georgia},
editor={Tinatin Margalitadze, George Meladze},
publisher={Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi University Press},
isbn={978-9941-13-542-2},
}
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