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Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language, published in London on 15 April 1755, defined 42,773 words. Johnson wrote the definitions himself; his six assistants mainly copied out the quotations he had marked in books.

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A group of London booksellers commissioned the dictionary in June 1746 for 1,500 guineas. Johnson promised to finish in three years. Told that the 40 members of the Académie française had taken 40 years over their French dictionary, Johnson joked that forty times forty made sixteen hundred, so an Englishman was to a Frenchman as three to sixteen hundred. It appeared nearly nine years after the contract. His great innovation was to show words in use, with some 114,000 quotations from around 500 writers, above all Shakespeare, Milton and Dryden. A few definitions are famously personal: a lexicographer is 'a harmless drudge', and oats are a grain given to horses in England but that feeds the people in Scotland. Johnson liked to tease the Scots, yet five of his six assistants were Scots. His remained the leading English dictionary until the Oxford English Dictionary was completed in 1928.

Türkçe oku
Samuel Johnson'ın A Dictionary of the English Language (İngiliz Dili Sözlüğü) 15 Nisan 1755'te Londra'da yayımlandı ve 42.773 sözcüğün tanımını içeriyordu. Tanımları Johnson kendisi yazdı; altı yardımcısı daha çok onun kitaplarda işaretlediği alıntıları kâğıda geçirdi.

Sözlüğü Haziran 1746'da bir grup Londralı kitapçı 1.500 gine karşılığında ısmarladı. Johnson işi üç yılda bitireceğine söz verdi. Bir dostu, kırk üyeli Fransız Akademisi'nin kendi sözlüğünü kırk yılda bitirdiğini hatırlatınca şakayla karşılık verdi: Kırk kere kırk bin altı yüz eder; demek ki bir İngiliz'in bir Fransız'a oranı, üçün bin altı yüze oranıdır. Sözlük, sözleşmeden dokuz yıla yakın bir süre sonra çıktı. Johnson'ın en önemli yeniliği, sözcükleri gerçek kullanımlarıyla göstermekti: Sözlükte başta Shakespeare, Milton ve Dryden olmak üzere 500 kadar yazardan yaklaşık 114.000 alıntı var. Bazı tanımlar pek kişiseldir: Sözlükçü “zararsız bir hamal”dır; yulaf ise İngiltere'de atlara verilen, İskoçya'da insanları besleyen bir tahıldır. Johnson İskoçlara takılmayı severdi, ama altı yardımcısından beşi İskoçtu. Sözlüğü, Oxford İngilizce Sözlüğü 1928'de tamamlanana dek İngilizcenin başlıca sözlüğü olarak kaldı.

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Background reading: Samuel Johnson
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