The first account of the making of John Jamieson's pioneering Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language first published between 1808 and 1825. Susan Rennie describes Jamieson's work and methods interweaving her account with biography and linguistic, social, and book history to present a rounded picture of the man, his work, and his times.

The 19th century saw a new wave of dictionaries, many of which remain household names. Those dictionaries didn't just store words; they represented imperial ambitions, nationalist passions, religious fervor, and utopian imaginings. This volume shows how 19th-century lexicography continues to influence how we speak, write, and think in the 21st century.

These substantial volumes present the fullest account yet published of the lexicography of English from its origins in medieval glosses, through its rapid development in the eighteenth century, to a fully-established high-tech industry that is as reliant as ever on learning and scholarship. The history covers dictionaries of English and its national varieties, including American English, with numerous references to developments in Europe and elsewhere which have influenced the course of English lexicography. Part one of Volume I explores the early development of glosses and bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and examines their influence on lexicographical methods and ideas. Part two presents a systematic history of monolingual dictionaries of English and includes extensive chapters on Johnson, Webster and his successors in the USA, and the OED. It also contains descriptions of the development of dictionaries of national and regional varieties, and of Old and Middle English, and concludes with an account of the computerization of the OED. The specialized dictionaries described in Volume II include dictionaries of science, dialects, synonyms, etymology, pronunciation, slang and cant, quotations, phraseology, and personal and place names. This volume also includes an account of the inception and development of dictionaries developed for particular users, especially foreign learners of English. The Oxford History of English Lexicography unites scholarship with readability. It provides a unique and accessible reference for scholars and professional lexicographers and offers a series of fascinating encounters with the men and women involved over the centuries in the making of works of profound national and linguistic importance.

This is the first full account of the making of John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. The dictionary was published in two volumes in 1808, with a two-volume Supplement following in 1825. Lists of Scots words had been compiled before, but Jamieson's was the first complete dictionary of the language. It was a landmark in the development of historical lexicography and was an inspiration for later lexicographers, including Sir James Murray, founding editor of the OED. Susan Rennie's account of Jamieson's work and the methods he developed interweaves biography, lexicography, and linguistic, social, and book history to present a rounded account of the man, his work, and his times. It is the first study to draw on Jamieson's correspondence and the surviving manuscript materials for the Dictionary and Supplement to reveal Jamieson's working methods and the important contributions made by Sir Walter Scott and others to his work.