Research idea - dictionaries

[Garson O'Toole]

Some of Samuel Johnson's definitions in "A Dictionary of the English
Language" (1755) humorously illustrate the tension between describing
and prescribing. The definition of patron is fun.

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch
who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.

Oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in
Scotland appears to support the people.

Distiller: One who makes and sells pernicious and inflammatory spirits.

Lexicographer: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies
himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of
words.

Politician: 1. One versed in the arts of government; one skilled in
politicks. 2. A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.

These items are abbreviated and taken from a secondary source (on the web).

http://www.samueljohnson.com/definitions.html

Perhaps one could search GB and JSTOR for pieces of these definitions.
Matches might reveal critical essays on the topic of
prescribing/describing.

Garson

On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 9:45 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Research idea - dictionaries
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Arnold Zwicky wrote/requoted: <<<Do you know of any good critical studies
> of dictionaries? Dictionaries as prescribing/ascribing vs. describing?>>>
> WB: Understandably vague. Somewhere I have stuff on the Webster's Third
> controversy, when descriptivism hit a brick wall in 1961. So much for the
> Grande Vulgarisation of linguistic science. (Wikipedia s.v. Webster's
> Dictionary looks like a good survey.)
>
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