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In:Lexical Variation and Knowledge Construction across Historical, Methodological, and Cultural Ecologies
Edited by Rossella Latorraca, Rita Calabrese, Jacqueline Aiello and Dirk Geeraerts
[Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice 25] 2026
► pp. 72–87

Cawdrey’s lexicographical practice

Its historical continuance and development

 | Soka Women’s College
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Abstract
Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall (1604) is widely known as the first monolingual English dictionary, having long attracted the interest of quite a few authorities on English lexicography. In spite of this, its historical significance has scarcely been discussed so far. The situation being thus, it is requisite to conduct a systematic analysis on to what extent and in what ways Cawdrey’s practice had been succeeded and developed in the sequence of lexicographical history. From this perspective, five English dictionaries after Cawdrey are investigated, with the aim of filling the void of research until today. And, as the conclusion of the investigation, Cawdrey was one essential origin and a launch pad for the development of seventeenth-century English lexicography.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Discussion and conclusions
    • 4.1Their Listing of Words Also Listed in Cawdrey
    • 4.2Their Definitions of the Words
      • 4.2.1Similarities and differences
      • 4.2.2Meanings which their definitions are based on: A historical analysis
    • 4.3Words Added to Them in Relation to Cawdrey: A grammatical analysis
    • 4.4Conclusion
  • References
References (15)
References
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