"Johnson's Dictionary"

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a massive book--four-volumes long and weighing over 20 pounds-- was published and immediately acclaimed by the English-reading public. This book codified as well as revolutionized our language. In celebration of this anniversary, a new book, “Defining the World, the Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary” by Henry Hitchings is now available at the Columbus Public Library.

A university dropout and a rural schoolmaster with little promise, Samuel Johnson began this commercial venture at the suggestion of a bookseller and publisher. Johnson labored for ten years to compile, define, and document over 42,773 words and technical terms from all the known disciplines of the time. His documentation included over 110,000 quotations which demonstrated the uses of many of the words.

Once available to the public—with only 2,000 in print--the “Johnson Dictionary” became the standard of the time. While the meanings and usages of the words that Johnson and his six apprentices recorded have evolved, their root definitions and proper spellings have remained the same. We take for granted that there is one--and only one-- way to spell a word; but prior to Johnson, spelling was a matter of personal preference. Many of the definitions were written by Johnson. He was succinct and elegant in many of his descriptions. An often quoted definition, “…the knowledge or faculty by which we judge the goodness or wickedness of ourselves” is his accounting of the word, “conscience”.

It’s hard to imagine that one man was primarily responsible for this benchmark publication. When first considering the scope of the task, Johnson thought that he could be done with it in three years or less. Instead, it became a life’s ambition as recorded in James Boswell’s classic biography, “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, printed in 1791.

The dictionary was published in the middle of the English “Enlightenment” --the time of Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift. Writing and publishing were the rage among the well-spoken and educated. Explorers were returning to England with wild tales and fascinating specimens. The American colonies were slipping away from the Crown but the court and the coffee houses were aglitter with the leavings of the intelligentsia. From obscurity, Johnson became a celebrity and sought-after guest at these gatherings.

While “the dictionary” is now outdated with many of the words and definitions obtuse and arcane, it remains a treasure trove of lost beliefs, prejudices, and ignorance of the times.

The book, “Defining the World, the Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary” is a expanded PhD dissertation by the author, Henry Hitchings.

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