Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was far more than a catalogue of words. It was a source of national pride on its publication in London on 15 April 1755, as well as a best-seller and a personal triumph for Johnson.
When he accepted a commission from a group of booksellers to write a dictionary, he was already 46 years old, and penniless. Johnson was paid 1,500 guineas enough to rent a house off Fleet Street and hire a team of assistants. And he was given three years to do it in.
It was a colossal undertaking. France's Dictionnaire had taken 40 scholars 55 years to write, so Johnson can be forgiven for overrunning his deadline. For over eight years, he worked doggedly, "with little assistance from the learned and without any patronage of the great".
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
He was even beset by tragedy when his beloved wife Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter sickened and died in 1752, but still the booksellers tapped their feet impatiently.
Restoring order and tracking changes in the English language was a Herculean task, for which Johnson blamed the traders of Britain's burgeoning empire.
"Commerce, however necessary, however lucrative, as it depraves the manners, corrupts the language; they that have frequent intercourse with strangers, to whom they endeavour to accommodate themselves, must in time learn a mingled dialect, like the jargon which serves the traffickers on the Mediterranean and Indian coasts."
Johnson freely admitted that his dictionary was far from perfect. But at its completion, the Dictionary of the English Language ran to 2,300 pages and contained close to 43,000 entries, or around 80% of the English words in use.
And nor could Johnson resist adding a touch of his own humour, famously defining a "lexicographer" as a "harmless drudge". For "oats", he wrote "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."
-
Christmas at Chatsworth: review of The Cavendish Hotel at BaslowMoneyWeek Travel Matthew Partridge gets into the festive spirit at The Cavendish Hotel at Baslow and the Christmas market at Chatsworth
-
Tycoon Truong My Lan on death row over world’s biggest bank fraudProperty tycoon Truong My Lan has been found guilty of a corruption scandal that dwarfs Malaysia’s 1MDB fraud and Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto scam
-
31 August 1957: the Federation of Malaya declares independence from the UKFeatures On this day in 1957, after ten years of preparation, the Federation of Malaya became an independent nation.
-
13 April 1960: the first satellite navigation system is launchedFeatures On this day in 1960, Nasa sent the Transit 1B satellite into orbit to provide positioning for the US Navy’s fleet of Polaris ballistic missile submarines.
-
9 April 1838: National Gallery opens in Trafalgar Square
Features On this day in 1838, William Wilkins’ new National Gallery building in Trafalgar Square opened to the public.
-
3 March 1962: British Antarctic Territory is created
Features On this day in 1962, Britain formed the British Antarctic Territory administered from the Falkland Islands.
-
10 March 2000: the dotcom bubble peaks
Features Tech mania fanned by the dawning of the internet age inflated the dotcom bubble to maximum extent, on this day in 2000.
-
9 March 1776: Adam Smith publishes 'The Wealth of Nations'
Features On this day in 1776, Adam Smith, the “father of modern economics”, published his hugely influential book The Wealth of Nations.
-
8 March 1817: the New York Stock Exchange is formed
Features On this day in 1817, a group of brokers moved out of a New York coffee house to form what would become the biggest stock exchange in the world.
-
7 March 1969: Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Victoria Line
Features On this day in 1969, Queen Elizabeth II took only her second trip on the tube to officially open the underground’s newest line – the Victoria Line.
