The "Second Part" of Cockeram's Dictionarie (1623): reconsidering its source materials

Conference item

Compiled in the heyday or the dictionary of hard words, the "Second Part" of Henry Cockeram's English Dictionarie (1623), the part for providing information on how "vulgar" words can be replaced by "refined" terms, has drawn the special attention of authorities. For instance, Leo Wiener remarked that "Cockeram's dictionary thus becomes a valuable source of information in regard to words that were commonly used" ('English lexicography' in MLN, XI, 177).

Concerning its source materials, it has usually been agreed among authorities that Cockeram used the English-Latin dictionary, as De Witt Starnes and Gertrude Noyes claimed that "It is obvious that Cockeram found most, if not all, of his so-called 'vulgar' words in the English-Latin section of the Rider-Holyoke dictionary; and the 'more refined and elegant terms' represent Cockeram's attempt to Anglicize Rider's Latin equivalents of the English" (The English Dictionary from Cawdrey to Johnson, 1604-1755, 1946:33).

However, what if the "Second Part" is almost entirely based on the English monolingual dictionary before it, with scarce relevance to the English-Latin dictionary? That is, Cockeram is regarded as having frequently inverted the head-words and definitions of entries in the English monolingual dictionary, treating the former as the "refined" terms and making the latter the head-words, in the "Second Part". If this is the case, our perspective of the history of early English lexicography may need to be drastically revised. Actually, the analysis of 195 entries on words beginning with the letter L in the "Second Part" reveals the strong probability that up to 86% of head-words and approximate 90% of "refined terms" in it are based on Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, John Bullokar's English Expositor and Cockeram's own "First Part" of the Dictionarie.

Authors: Miyoshi, K

• Alternative title: Presented at Historical Dictionaries session
• Publication status: Not published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Edition: Author's Original
• Language: English
• Subjects: Latin; English Language and Literature