ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language is one of the most famous dictionaries in history. First published in 1755, the dictionary took just over eight years to compile, required six helpers and listed 40, 000 words.

Detailed explanation-2: -Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall, published in 1604, was the first single-language English dictionary ever published. It lists approximately 3000 words, defining each one with a simple and brief description.

Detailed explanation-3: -First published in 1755, this dictionary took Johnson and his small team of helpers nine years to compile, and was unsurpassed as a reference work for over a century until the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1884.

Detailed explanation-4: -Johnson’s great contribution to the history of English lexicography was to conceive the dictionary, not as a schoolroom prop, but as a type of literary work. Johnson wrote only one dictionary, but in that one he initiated several dictionary genres.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written by English schoolteacher Robert Cawdrey in 1604. The only surviving copy is found at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.