Johnson’s Dictionary

– photo: Jeff Miller

The book that influenced all others

Henry Hitchings, author of the 2005 book Dr Johnson’s Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story of the Book that Defined the World, describes how Johnson’s working method was innovative.

“He started not by coming up with a list of words like previous compilers had, but by reading 2,000 books. When he saw words that were interesting, he marked notes on them in the margin. So usage became his primary criterion and he had at least one quotation for each word.”

Samuel Johnson also brought elegance to his definitions. Whereas [earlier lexicographer Nathan] Bailey described a wheel as “a round device too well known to need description”, and a spider as “an insect well known”, Johnson defined a wheel as “a circular body that turns round upon an axis”, and a spider as “the animal that spins webs for flies”.

Johnson defined a trance as “a temporary absence of the soul”, and a rant as “high sounding language unsupported by dignity of thought”.

– Brian