An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: Comprehending the Derivations of the Generality of Words in the English Tongue, either Ancient or Modern ... And also a Brief and Clear Explication of all Difficult Words

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A departure from the 17th practice of dictionaries focusing on difficult words, Bailey sought to define a more comprehensive set of words in the English language. A later edition published as a folio, titled Dictionarium Britannicum, became the basis for Johnson’s seminal dictionary. A second volume of this work is recognized for adding accentuation marks to its words to assist readers in pronunciation and including woodcut illustrations. This work became popular internationally, influencing the publication of English–German dictionaries in Germany.

N. Bailey (d. 1742).
An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: Comprehending the Derivations of the Generality of Words in the English Tongue, either Ancient or Modern ... And also a Brief and Clear Explication of all Difficult Words ... London: E. Bell [etc.], 1724.

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/Record/921721

A version of this text has been digitized and is available through the Internet Archive.

Digitized Version