A Concise Dictionary Of Middle English From A D 1150 To 1580 Annotated

Author : Walter William Skeat
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781980228141
Total Pages : 590 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (281 download)

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Download or read book A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A. D. 1150 To 1580 (Annotated) written by Walter William Skeat and published by . This book was released on 2018-02-08 with total page 590 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an annotated version of the book1. contains an updated biography of the author at the end of the book for a better understanding of the text.2. This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errorsThe present work is intended to meet, in some measure, the requirementsof those who wish to make some study of Middle-English, and who find adifficulty in obtaining such assistance as will enable them to find outthe meanings and etymologies of the words most essential to theirpurpose.The best Middle-English Dictionary, that by Dr. Mätzner of Berlin, hasonly reached the end of the letter H; and it is probable that it willnot be completed for many years. The only Middle-English Dictionary thathas been carried on to the end of the alphabet is that by the late Dr.Stratmann, of Krefeld. This is a valuable work, and is indispensable forthe more advanced student. However, the present work will still supply adeficiency, as it differs from Stratmann's Dictionary in manyparticulars. We have chosen as our Main Words, where possible, the mosttypical of the forms or spellings of the period of Chaucer and PiersPlowman; in Stratmann, on the other hand, the form chosen as Main Wordis generally the oldest form in which it appears, frequently one of thetwelfth century. Moreover, with regard to authorities, we refer in thecase of the great majority of our forms to a few, cheap, easilyaccessible works, whereas Stratmann's authorities are mainly thenumerous and expensive publications of the Early English Text Society.Lastly, we have paid special attention to the French element inMiddle-English, whereas Stratmann is somewhat deficient in respect ofwords of French origin[1]. The book which has generally been found ofmost assistance to the learner is probably Halliwell's Dictionary ofArchaic and Provincial Words; but this is not specially confined to theMiddle-English period, and the plan of it differs in several respectsfrom that of the present work. [Footnote 1: A new and thoroughly revised edition of Stratmann's Dictionary is being prepared by Mr. Henry Bradley, for the Delegates of the Clarendon Press.]The scope of this volume will be best understood by an explanation ofthe circumstances that gave rise to it. Some useful and comparativelyinexpensive volumes illustrative of the Middle-English period have beenissued by the Clarendon Press; all of which are furnished withglossaries, explaining all the important words, with exact references tothe passages wherein the words occur. In particular, the three usefulhand-books containing Specimens of English (from 1150 down to 1580)together supply no less than sixty-seven characteristic extracts fromthe most important literary monuments of this period; and the threeglossaries to these books together fill more than 370 pages ofclosely-printed type in double columns. The idea suggested itself thatit would be highly desirable to bring the very useful information thusalready collected _under one alphabet_, and this has now been effected.At the same time, a reference has in every case been carefully given tothe _particular_ Glossarial Index which registers each form here cited,so that it is perfectly easy for any one who consults our book to refer,not merely to the particular Index thus noted, but to the referencesgiven in that Index; and so, by means of such references, to find everypassage referred to, with its proper context. Moreover the student onlyrequires, for this purpose, a small array of the text-books in theClarendon Press Series, instead of a more or less complete set ofeditions of Middle-English texts, the possession of which necessitates aconsiderable outlay of money. By this plan, so great a _compression_ ofinformation has been achieved, that a large number of the articles givea summary such as can be readily expanded