OCR Text |
Show THE GROWTH OF DICTIONARIES,' The English language must have, great vitality, otherwise it would not grow at a rate roughly estimated, of :.imki word- a vear Tbi r, the aver I age increase indicated try dictionaries i ulished from time to time Perhaps man. words were overlooked b the dder lexicographers but have been recorded by the newer. However, it Is well known that every year adds to j the number of words in the language I We are always making discoveries In I science and other branches of human I knowledge and we must have words I to epp-.-s iiw things and Ideas. Dictionaries in English began with I John Uulowar's ' English Expositor in 1616 presenting 6060 words Edward Ed-ward Philips Issued a dictionary In 1656 containing I 1,000 words This work reached the -jXth edition in 1706 and had more than SO.000 word. The first attempt at a thorough col-lecttOIl col-lecttOIl Is credited to Nathan Uailcv In 1721 In tills work the accents were marked Samuel Johnsons diction sry appeared jn 1785, containing 50,. OQO words, and was for a long time the great authority lohnson gac ex j tensive examples of the use of words ;and precise definitions Hl6 work reprinted from time to time as late ;as 1S6. Kenrick In 177:: w28 the first to'indlra'e pronunciations oah Webster s dictionary of 182S contain 1 cd 160.0QO words and Worcester's in ! 1830 contained 105,000. The language continued to grow until the latter parr of the I9th century one dictlonarv contained 818,000 words A new die- i tionary to appear wjthln a few' months win contain 160.000 words. Dr. Frank H Yizetelly. lexicographer lexicograph-er tlmJs that there are about 3600 languages or branches of languages spoken in the world, and more people speak English than anv other Euro l-ean language The European Ian l cuage spoken by the most people are according t0 Dr. Vile telly: English' I60,oti0.onn: German, 130.000,000' Rus' sion. loo.ooo.oo.v French 70 000 000-Spanlsh, 000-Spanlsh, 60,000.000; Italian. 50 000 '-000; '-000; Portuguese. 25.000,000. The difference in the number speaking English and the number speaking German Is not as great as I might be supposed The increase in the number speaHing German is doubtlessly due very much to the vig- j or with which the Germans have e j tended commerce in fhe world The number of words In the recent English dictionaries Is approaching a j half million. But most of us do not use and never will use one half of jtliein Tacoma Ledger |