John Minsheu, Ductor in Linguas (1617)

Full Text

EEBO/TCP

Not available

Date

1617

Lexicographer

John Minsheu Note: 12/10/2005

Book title

ῊΓΕΜῺΝ ΕΙΣ ΤᾺΣ ΓΛὬΣΣΑΣ. Ductor in Linguas, The Gvide Into Tongves. Cum illarum harmonia, & Etymologijs, Originationibus, Rationibus, & Deriuationibus in omnibus his vndecim Linguis, viz. 1. Anglica. 2. Cambro-britanica. 3. Belgica. 4. Germanica. 5. Gallica. 6. Italica. 7. Hispanica. 8. Lusitanica seu portugallica. 9. Latina. 10. Graeca. 11. Hebrea, &c. Quæ etiam ita ordine, & sono consentientes, collocatæ sunt, vt facilimè & nullo labore, vnusquisque non solùm, Quatuor, Quinque, vel plures illarum, quàm optimè memoria tenere, verum etiam (per earum Etymologias) sub Nomine, Naturam, Proprietatem, Conditionem, Effectum, Materiam, Formam, vel finem rerum, rectè nosse queat; Discrepans ab alijs Dictionarijs vnquam antehâc editis. Item explicatio vocabulorum forensium Iuris Anglicani, & Descriptio Magristratuum, & Titulorum dignitatum, hac nota [hand] per totum Opus insignita. Opera, Studio, Industria, Labore & Sumptibus Iohannis Minshæi in lucem editum & impressum. Anno 1617. The Guide into the tongues. With their agreement and consent one with another, as also their Etymologies, that is, the Reasons and Deriuations of all or the most part of wordes, in these eleuen Languages, viz. 1. English. 2. British or Welsh. 3. Low Dutch. 4. High Dutch. 5. French. 6. Italian. 7. Spanish. 8. Portuguez. 9. Latine. 10. Greeke. 11. Hebrew, &c. Which are so laid together (for the helpe of memory) that any one with ease and facilitie, may not only remember 4. 5. or more of these Languages so laid together, but also by their Etymologies vnder the Name know the Nature, Propertie, Condition, Effect, Matter, Forme, Fashion or End of things there-under contayned, differing from all other Dictionaries euer heretofore set forth. Also the Exposition of the Termes of the Lawes of this Land, drawne from their originall the Saxon and Norman tongues, with the description of the Magistracies, Offices, and Officers, and Titles of Dignities, noted with this hand [hand] throughout the whole Booke. A worke for all Louers of any kinde of Learning, most pleasant and profitable, especially for those of our owne Nation, when by order of the English Alphabet, they may finde out 10. other Tongues, with their Etymologies, most helpfull to Memory, to Speake or Write, then to Strangers, if they will draw out of these one or more Languages, and place them in order of Alphabet and Table, and referre them by figures into this Booke, as they shall best like of

Publication place

London

Publisher

I. Browne

Transcription source

Elton Hall copy of the original text

Text type

printed book

Genre

Bilingual and polyglot dictionaries, glossaries, and vocabularies

Subject area

Summary

Eleven languages. Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Hebrew. Cf. 1611? John Minsheu's Glosson-etymologicon, STC 17947.5 [2-leaf prospectus]. The LEME transcription is limited to preliminaries and the English headwords of the wordentries.

Extent

556

Word-group

type: alphabetical

Word-entry

type: headword
number: 19927
sample: 5877-9 * Hoi, a word vsed in driuing hogges, à gr. κοῒ, quod est imitatio vocis procellorum: vndè κοίζειν apud Aristoph: est grunnire instar porci. (p. 236)

Alston

II.103

STC

17944

Catalog

Kennedy, Arthur Garfield. A Bibliography on Writings on the English Language from the Beginning of Printing to the End of 1922. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1927. 2717. view record

Other editions

1625: STC 17945, -45.5 (2 editions, reduced to 9 languages, without Portuguese or Welsh; Alston II.104-05);
1626: STC 17946 (Alston II: 106);
1627: STC 17947 (Alston II: 107, noting that the Canterbury Cathedral copy has "annotations by William Somner")

Facsimiles

Minsheu, John. Ductor in linguas (Guide into the tongues) and Vocabularium hispanicolatinum (1617) / John Minsheu; a facsimile reproduction . Delmar, N.Y.: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, 1978. view record

Criticisms

Joan, (Sister) Mary. "Minsheu's `Guide into the Tongues' and Somner's `Dictionarium'." Mediaeval Studies 24 (1962): 375-77. view record
Rosier, James L. "The Sources and Methods of Minsheu's Guide into the Tongues." Philological Quarterly 40 (1961): 68-76. view record
Schäfer, Jürgen. "John Minsheu: Scholar or Charlatan?." Renaissance Quarterly 26.1 (1973): 23-35. view record
Clapp, Sarah L. C. "The Beginnings of Subscription Publication." Modern Philology 29 (1931-32): 199-224. view record
Lenz, Katja and Ruth M&ol;hlig, eds. "John Minsheu, Polymath and Poseur: Old English in an Early Seventeenth-century Dictionary." Of Diuersitie & Chaunge of Langage: Essays Presented to Manfred Görlach on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 2002. 144-56. view record
Starnes, De W. T. "Biblical Names in John Minsheu's Guide into Tongues (1627)." Notes and Queries 9 (1962): 374-76. view record
Fernández Urdaneta, Heberto H. "Dictionaries and Vocabularies in Spanish and English from 1554 to 1740: Their Structure and Development." Ph.D. dissertation (Université de Montréal). Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences 68.12 (2008 (June)): 5050. 229-79. view record

Sources

• Noland, Daniel Woodring. "John Minsheu's `Ductor in Linguas' and the Beginning of English Historical Lexicography." Dissertation Abstracts International. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Texas at Austin: n.p., 1987 November. 1187. view record
• Noland, Daniel W. "The Sources and Methods of John Minsheu's A Dictionary of Spanish and English (1599)." Dictionaries 11 (1989): 41-52. view record
• Golden, Samuel. "Chaucer in Minsheu's `Guide into the Tongues'." The Chaucer Review 4 (1970): 49-54. view record