القشربه
12-24-2005, 07:44 PM
• "
No lawful standard...": The Evolution of English Dictionaries
(Language history)
As early as 1582, in the Elementarie (a list of about 8,000 English words, but with no definitions), Richard Mulcaster had called for a dictionary which, in addition to providing for English words "the right writing, which is incident to the Alphabete, wold open vnto us therein, both their naturall force, and their proper use." But not until 150 years later, in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721), did anyone try to list all the words in the language. The earliest English dictionaries were not dictionaries at all in the modern sense, but rather lists of Latin words and their English equivalents or lists of "hard words" in English.
In 1730, Nathaniel Bailey produced his Dictionarium Britannicum. It encompassed 48,000 words and became the standard English dictionary until Samuel Johnson, using Bailey's work as a foundation, produced A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Johnson conceived his plan for the dictionary with the notion of "fixing" the language.
One of the more remarkable features of Johnson's dictionary project was his relationship to Lord Chesterfield, who promised patronage but delivered only verbal allegiance:
I had long lamented, that we had no lawful standard of our language set up, for those to repair to, who might choose to speak and write it grammatically and correctly . . . . The time for discrimination seems to be now come. Toleration, adoption, and naturalization, have run their lengths. Good order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them, and at the same time the obedience due to them? We must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and choose a Dictator. Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a freeborn British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorship. Nay, more; I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair; but no longer. (The World. November 28, 1754; quoted in Finegan 23)
(extracts from the "Virginia Tech" site, article by Daniel W. Mosser)
http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/hel/helmod/dicty.html
________________________________________
• Is English the "Official" Language of the UK?
(Language history)
Don Aitken: There has never been any law stating that English is the official language of the UK, although there is one (dating from the 18th century) requiring court records to be kept in English and not in French or Latin, as they were until that time. The Uk has no official language, and I don't think anyone has ever suggested that it should have.
Henry Churchyard: Here are some semi-random facts:
ca. 1250
First book appears to teach French to children of upper
classes in England
Early 14th century
Contemporary statements that all classes can speak English,
while knowledge of French is somewhat limited
1362
For the first time, chancellor opens parliament in
English. Lawsuits ordered to be conducted in English, not
French.
2nd half of 14th century
Schools generally switch over from French to English as
language of instruction. (The subject matter which is taught
is still mostly Latin, of course.)
1399
Henry IV comes to throne as first monarch speaking only
English (apparently)
1404
English ambassadors negotiating with France insist that French
not be used as the language of negotiations (instead, Latin is
used)
1st half of 15th century
Private letters between members of upper classes switch over
from being generally in French to almost entirely in English
1422
London Brewers switch guild proceedings from French to English
1423
Parliamentary proceedings ("petitions of commons") start to
appear in English.
ca. 1430
"A large number of towns are seen translating their ordinances
and their books of customs into English."
late 1480's (first Tudor on throne)
Parliamentary statutes are written down in English in their
final form; effective disappearance of most of the last
lingering uses of French in the internal domestic
administration of England, though many French (and Latin)
phrases remained in the language of the law.
(extract from the aue archives, articles by Don Aitken and Henry Churchyard)
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=a8v7bh%24kgv%40moe.cc.utexas.edu
________________________________________
• 12th & 13th Century English Textile Surnames
(Language history)
The sources for these surnames are Appendix 1, "Textile professions from BLC, EFF, and IPM grouped by occupation and role listed by property and year," and Appendix 2, "Textile professions from the control group selected by occupation and role listed by property and year" of The Textile Industry in Essex in the late 12th and 13th Century by Michael Gervers.
While the given names and place names in the Appendix have been modernized, the surnames have been retained in their original forms. I have listed the surnames in alphabetical order, organized by their modern counterparts and with derivation notes. Following each name are the dates that the name was found. (I have not included duplicate instances; a specific spelling might have been found four times in 1254, but I have listed the date only once.)
(extract from Sara L. Friedemann's page on 12th & 13th Century English Textile Surnames)
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/textile.html
________________________________________
• The origin of the @ symbol
(Language history)
It's called the "at" or "ape tail" in English, the "arroba" in Spanish, the "chiocciola" in Italian. Everyone familiar with the internet knows we're talking about the symbol in an e-mail address separating the addressee's or sender's name from the server name : the "@" symbol. But where does this funny looking symbol come from ?
...
Following a few indications given by the School for Palaeography in Rome, Stabile consulted a collection of documents of 16th century Italian business men. The documents belong to the International Institute for History of the Economy "Francesco Datini" in Prado. After some browsing in the documents Stabile found that the @ symbol was formerly used to designate an "amphora". In those days this antique unit of measure was used a lot in the wine commerce, especially in Venice. But the origin of the @ symbol even goes back much further than the 16th century Venice. In an Arabic-Italian dictionary from 1492 Stabile found that the Arabic word written as "@" meant simply "amphora", confirming the previous finding.
That the @ symbol finally became part of cyberspace is due to Ray Tomlinson, an American engineer who is one of the founding fathers of the internet, or actually the Arpanet, the predecessor to the present internet. In 1972 Tomlinson invented a system for individual electronic mail, introducing the first "hot" application of the Arpanet. He used the @ symbol to distinguish a sender's or addressee's name from the name of the electronic mail box. According to Stabile, Tomlinson chose this symbol "just because it was on the keyboard".
(extract from "Kurt's Not Frequently Asked Questions" page)
http://www.vki.ac.be/~sermeus/nfaq/amphora.html
________________________________________
• Civil War Slang
(Language history)
What if you could talk to someone who lived at the time of the Civil War? YOU would probably have a hard time understanding some of the things they said.. .LET'S step back now and hear what they had to say:
http://www.angelfire.com/ms/genealogyinfo/page4.html
No lawful standard...": The Evolution of English Dictionaries
(Language history)
As early as 1582, in the Elementarie (a list of about 8,000 English words, but with no definitions), Richard Mulcaster had called for a dictionary which, in addition to providing for English words "the right writing, which is incident to the Alphabete, wold open vnto us therein, both their naturall force, and their proper use." But not until 150 years later, in Nathaniel Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721), did anyone try to list all the words in the language. The earliest English dictionaries were not dictionaries at all in the modern sense, but rather lists of Latin words and their English equivalents or lists of "hard words" in English.
In 1730, Nathaniel Bailey produced his Dictionarium Britannicum. It encompassed 48,000 words and became the standard English dictionary until Samuel Johnson, using Bailey's work as a foundation, produced A Dictionary of the English Language (1755). Johnson conceived his plan for the dictionary with the notion of "fixing" the language.
One of the more remarkable features of Johnson's dictionary project was his relationship to Lord Chesterfield, who promised patronage but delivered only verbal allegiance:
I had long lamented, that we had no lawful standard of our language set up, for those to repair to, who might choose to speak and write it grammatically and correctly . . . . The time for discrimination seems to be now come. Toleration, adoption, and naturalization, have run their lengths. Good order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them, and at the same time the obedience due to them? We must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and choose a Dictator. Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a freeborn British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorship. Nay, more; I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair; but no longer. (The World. November 28, 1754; quoted in Finegan 23)
(extracts from the "Virginia Tech" site, article by Daniel W. Mosser)
http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/hel/helmod/dicty.html
________________________________________
• Is English the "Official" Language of the UK?
(Language history)
Don Aitken: There has never been any law stating that English is the official language of the UK, although there is one (dating from the 18th century) requiring court records to be kept in English and not in French or Latin, as they were until that time. The Uk has no official language, and I don't think anyone has ever suggested that it should have.
Henry Churchyard: Here are some semi-random facts:
ca. 1250
First book appears to teach French to children of upper
classes in England
Early 14th century
Contemporary statements that all classes can speak English,
while knowledge of French is somewhat limited
1362
For the first time, chancellor opens parliament in
English. Lawsuits ordered to be conducted in English, not
French.
2nd half of 14th century
Schools generally switch over from French to English as
language of instruction. (The subject matter which is taught
is still mostly Latin, of course.)
1399
Henry IV comes to throne as first monarch speaking only
English (apparently)
1404
English ambassadors negotiating with France insist that French
not be used as the language of negotiations (instead, Latin is
used)
1st half of 15th century
Private letters between members of upper classes switch over
from being generally in French to almost entirely in English
1422
London Brewers switch guild proceedings from French to English
1423
Parliamentary proceedings ("petitions of commons") start to
appear in English.
ca. 1430
"A large number of towns are seen translating their ordinances
and their books of customs into English."
late 1480's (first Tudor on throne)
Parliamentary statutes are written down in English in their
final form; effective disappearance of most of the last
lingering uses of French in the internal domestic
administration of England, though many French (and Latin)
phrases remained in the language of the law.
(extract from the aue archives, articles by Don Aitken and Henry Churchyard)
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&selm=a8v7bh%24kgv%40moe.cc.utexas.edu
________________________________________
• 12th & 13th Century English Textile Surnames
(Language history)
The sources for these surnames are Appendix 1, "Textile professions from BLC, EFF, and IPM grouped by occupation and role listed by property and year," and Appendix 2, "Textile professions from the control group selected by occupation and role listed by property and year" of The Textile Industry in Essex in the late 12th and 13th Century by Michael Gervers.
While the given names and place names in the Appendix have been modernized, the surnames have been retained in their original forms. I have listed the surnames in alphabetical order, organized by their modern counterparts and with derivation notes. Following each name are the dates that the name was found. (I have not included duplicate instances; a specific spelling might have been found four times in 1254, but I have listed the date only once.)
(extract from Sara L. Friedemann's page on 12th & 13th Century English Textile Surnames)
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/textile.html
________________________________________
• The origin of the @ symbol
(Language history)
It's called the "at" or "ape tail" in English, the "arroba" in Spanish, the "chiocciola" in Italian. Everyone familiar with the internet knows we're talking about the symbol in an e-mail address separating the addressee's or sender's name from the server name : the "@" symbol. But where does this funny looking symbol come from ?
...
Following a few indications given by the School for Palaeography in Rome, Stabile consulted a collection of documents of 16th century Italian business men. The documents belong to the International Institute for History of the Economy "Francesco Datini" in Prado. After some browsing in the documents Stabile found that the @ symbol was formerly used to designate an "amphora". In those days this antique unit of measure was used a lot in the wine commerce, especially in Venice. But the origin of the @ symbol even goes back much further than the 16th century Venice. In an Arabic-Italian dictionary from 1492 Stabile found that the Arabic word written as "@" meant simply "amphora", confirming the previous finding.
That the @ symbol finally became part of cyberspace is due to Ray Tomlinson, an American engineer who is one of the founding fathers of the internet, or actually the Arpanet, the predecessor to the present internet. In 1972 Tomlinson invented a system for individual electronic mail, introducing the first "hot" application of the Arpanet. He used the @ symbol to distinguish a sender's or addressee's name from the name of the electronic mail box. According to Stabile, Tomlinson chose this symbol "just because it was on the keyboard".
(extract from "Kurt's Not Frequently Asked Questions" page)
http://www.vki.ac.be/~sermeus/nfaq/amphora.html
________________________________________
• Civil War Slang
(Language history)
What if you could talk to someone who lived at the time of the Civil War? YOU would probably have a hard time understanding some of the things they said.. .LET'S step back now and hear what they had to say:
http://www.angelfire.com/ms/genealogyinfo/page4.html