PREFACE. HAVING embraced so much variety of statement in the Introduction, and extended it greatly beyond his original intention, the author will not detain the reader long with prefatory observation. The present work is almost wholly different from every other work of the kind hitherto published; but the author is not conscious of having been actuated by any love of singularity; and he is fully aware that peculiarities, however original, may be the very reverse of excellencies. He may have missed his aim; but the sole object, the governing principle of his laborious undertaking, is utility. If there be, throughout his work, convincing internal evidence of the sincerity of this declaration, and that he has spared no labour to accomplish his purpose, he is surely entitled to enlightened, considerate, and candid criticism; and this is all the favour he solicits from Reviewers. The nature of his undertaking peculiarly precludes perfection; and he has been obliged to content himself with much lower degrees of excellence than would satisfy him if he had any assurance of long life and much philologic improvement. The plan of the Dictionary will be sufficiently understood by inspection, and therefore a description of it in this place is unnecessary. Wherever explanation seemed superfluous it has not been obtruded; as in the names of familiar objects, such as horse, cow, house, &c. Every person has a more distinct perception of the meaning of such words than can possibly be expressed; and therefore definition or explanation is futile. Partly with the view of rendering the Dictionary useful to foreigners, and partly for the purpose of enabling the English to compare their own words with those which correspond to them in other languages the nearest Latin, Italian, French, and German, synonymes are subjoined to the explanation. Thus, it was thought, foreigners might obtain some knowledge of the English language, and that English persons might obtain some knowledge of other languages. PREFACE. When the English language, and others referred to, have the same word in common, it was not considered necessary to subjoin any learned or foreign synonymes. For the sake of brevity many contractions are employed, such as Ger. for German, It. for Italian, Fr. for French, Sp. for Spanish, Goth. for Gothic: cor. for corruption, con. for contraction, &c. &c. It is not expected that such contractions will occasion any obscurity or perplexity. Partly to avoid expense, and partly to accommodate the mere English scholar, Greek words are put in large Roman capitals, as Latin words are put in small Roman capitals: thus, ONOMA, NOMEN, name. Occasionally the author has taken the liberty of prefixing the obsolete sign (or sign that a word is obsolete) ‡ to words of Saxon origin, though they may not be found in the English language and in quoting Gothic, Saxon, Danish, Swedish, and Scottish words, (whose orthography is very various and uncertain,) he has sometimes trusted to his memory without being absolutely certain as to the most correct form of spelling. |