12 February 2012

What is the name of the first dictionary?


Dictionaries have been published in almost every living language from Afrikaans to Zulu, as well as some dead ones, such as Afrikaans and Egyptian (defining hieroglyphics). However, editing a dictionary is not a job for people with short attention spans – or short lives. The first great French dictionary, the Academic Françoise, took 56 years to complete, and the Oxford English Dictionary was compiled in 71 years. The standard Italian dictionary, begun in 1863, is still unfinished. The first bilingual dictionary (English-French), printed for travelers to France, was compiled in 1480 by William Caxton. In previous centuries men made glossaries which are handwritten lists of foreign and unusual words.

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