Father of dictionary and his anti-Scots views

KEY: Interesting topics and their [explanations].

SAMUEL Johnson's Dictionary was the first great work of English lexicography. And so, on the 250th anniversary of his publication, it is only fitting to examine Johnson's achievement as well as compare and contrast the English and Scottish literary languages.

Johnson criticised the speech of his biographer and friend, James Boswell, who contritely replied that he couldn't help it and, notoriously, Johnson said some very rude things about the Scots and Scotland in general. [Boswell quotes: "The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England!" In his dictionary, Johnson defines OATS as "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."] But he evidently did not dismiss all things Scots out of hand, for Johnson opined that "Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young." Indeed, what would we know about Johnson without his Scottish biographer?

It is thanks to Boswell that we know too of the origins of the under-drudges [Johnson defined LEXICOGRAPHER as "A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge".] who assisted him in his great work. Boswell tells us, "For the mechanical part, he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country [...two Messieurs Macbean; Mr Shiels, who ... partly wrote the Lives of the Poets to which the name Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr Maitland.].

So began an amazing tradition of Scots lexicographers in English and later in the Scots language. It was a Scot, James Murray, who conceived the Oxford English Dictionary (1884-1928) but did not live to see its completion. William Grant and David Murison gave us the ten volumes of the Scottish National Dictionary (1931-76) and Sir William Craigie, Jack Aitken, James Stevenson, Marace Dareau, Lorna Pike and Harry Watson were the editors of the 12 volume Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (1931-2002). At Scottish Language Dictionaries, Scots historical lexicography continues, collecting new Scots words while extending our knowledge of the old ones, and Iseabail Macleod will soon be adding a new supplement to the Scottish National Dictionary online.

For Johnson, some of the newer words in his dictionary were of Scots origin. One such is PONY of which he says "I know not the origin of this word unless it be corrupted from puny." A better explanation for the Scots POWNEY is borrowing into Scots of the Old French poulenet meaning a little foal. Another French loan, TICKET, albeit spelt somewhat differently, was being used in Scots in 1516 in the sense of a notice posted in a public place, especially a summons advertised by being posted on the Edinburgh Tolbooth door. Johnson’s first citation of the word is attributed to Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queen, published in 1590. The first English example in the Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1528. Could this have been another word that travelled south from Scotland?

Fast fact

There are approximately a thousand copies of the first (1755) edition of Johnson's "Dictionary" still about, and any major library are sure to have at least one copy. Also, electronic publishers Octavo have produced a CD-Rom version of the first edition.

On the web

Dictionary of the Scots Language

Absent from Johnson's dictionary is the word GREED. This may seem surprising, given that the word GREEDY has been around for a long time, going all the way back to Old English grdi. The form GREED appeared first in Scots in the early 17th century and didn’t make it over the border until the 19th century.

Putting the boot on the other foot, Johnson has the word CLAN, which he describes as being probably of Scottish origin. It is indeed a Gaelic word that has found its way into both Scots and English. This is a startling omission [The previous editors of the Scottish National Dictionary did not include words current in English unless they were used in a different sense. In this they differed from Johnson who was breaking new ground by compiling a dictionary of every word in English rather than producing just a list of "hard words" as his predecessors had done.] from the Scottish National Dictionary, although it does appear in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue. One point to Johnson!

To give credit where it is due, although some of Johnson's entries have been a source of amusement for their idiosyncratic views, he was the father of modern lexicography with his ordering of senses, his quotations and his early attempts at etymology. He puts together the best practice of earlier lexicographers and comes up with something better than the sum of its parts.

Dr Chris Robinson is Director of Outreach and Administration for Scottish Language Dictionaries and an Honorary Fellow of the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, where she has been teaching English language for the past 20 years. She is also a visiting lecturer in Scots language for the UHI, university-level education in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland.