Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language
1755
Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language
1755
Published in 1755, Samuel Johnson's 'Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language' introduces his groundbreaking dictionary project. This foundational text addresses the complexities of defining the English language, discussing the historical roots, orthography, and pronunciation of words. Johnson reflects on the challenges faced by lexicographers and emphasizes the balance between linguistic stability and the inevitable evolution of language. His insights laid the groundwork for modern lexicography and underscore the dynamic nature of English.
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“If the changes that we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of humanity? It remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure. Life may be lengthened by care, though death cannot be ultimately defeated: tongues, like governments, have a natural tendency to degeneration; we have long preserved our constitution, let us make some struggles for our language.””
— Samuel Johnson
“It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good;””
— Samuel Johnson
“volumes where it is particularly and professedly delivered; and, by proper attention to the rules of derivation, the orthography was soon adjusted. But to COLLECT the WORDS of our language was a task of greater difficulty: the deficiency of dictionaries was immediately apparent; and when they were exhausted, what was yet wanting must be sought by fortuitous and unguided excursions into books, and gleaned as industry should find, or chance should offer it, in the boundless chaos of a living speech. My search, however, has been either skilful or lucky; for I have much augmented the vocabulary. As my design was a dictionary, common or appellative, I have omitted all words which have relation to proper names; such as Arian, Socinian, Calvinist, Benedictine, Mahometan; but have retained those of a more general nature, as Heathen, Pagan. Of the terms of art I have received such as could be found either in books of science or technical dictionaries; and have often inserted, from philosophical writers, words which are supported perhaps only by a single authority, and which being not admitted into general use, stand yet as candidates or probationers, and must depend for their adoption on the suffrage of futurity. The words which our authours have introduced by their knowledge of foreign languages, or ignorance of their own, by vanity or wantonness, by compliance with fashion or lust of innovation, I have registred as they occurred, though commonly only to censure them, and warn others against the folly of naturalizing useless foreigners to the injury of the natives. I have not rejected any by design, merely because they were unnecessary or exuberant; but have received those which by””
— Samuel Johnson
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Johnson, Samuel. Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language. Lex, lex-books.com/book/preface-to-a-dictionary-of-the-english-language-ec8fd201-53a6-482b-acf2-7ee87fad958d.Johnson, S. (1755). Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/preface-to-a-dictionary-of-the-english-language-ec8fd201-53a6-482b-acf2-7ee87fad958dJohnson, Samuel. Preface to a Dictionary of the English Language. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/preface-to-a-dictionary-of-the-english-language-ec8fd201-53a6-482b-acf2-7ee87fad958d.
