This is the first full account of the making of John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. The dictionary was published in two volumes in 1808, with a two-volume Supplement following in 1825. Lists of Scots words had been compiled before, but Jamieson's was the first complete dictionary of the language. It was a landmark in the development of historical lexicography and was an inspiration for later lexicographers, including
Sir James Murray, founding editor of the OED. Susan Rennie's account of Jamieson's work and the methods he developed interweaves biography, lexicography, and linguistic, social, and book history to present a rounded
account of the man, his work, and his times. It is the first study to draw on Jamieson's correspondence and the surviving manuscript materials for the Dictionary and Supplement to reveal Jamieson's working methods and the important contributions made by Sir Walter Scott and others to his work.
This is the first full account of the making of John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. The dictionary was published in two volumes in 1808, with a two-volume Supplement following in 1825. Lists of Scots words had been compiled before, but Jamieson's was the first complete dictionary of the language. It was a landmark in the development of historical lexicography and was an inspiration for later lexicographers, including
Sir James Murray, founding editor of the OED. Susan Rennie's account of Jamieson's work and the methods he developed interweaves biography, lexicography, and linguistic, social, and book history to present a rounded
account of the man, his work, and his times. It is the first study to draw on Jamieson's correspondence and the surviving manuscript materials for the Dictionary and Supplement to reveal Jamieson's working methods and the important contributions made by Sir Walter Scott and others to his work.
1: 'A man of Letters'
2: Models and Rivals
3: The Dictionary Takes Shape
4: 'The Pulse of the Public': promotion and publication
5: Inside the Dictionary
6: Revision and Collaboration: the Abridgement and Supplement
7: After Jamieson
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Susan Rennie is a lexicographer and author. A former Senior Editor with Scottish Language Dictionaries, she edited and managed the online Dictionary of the Scots Language at the University of Dundee in 2001-4. Her books include The Oxford English Thesaurus for Schools, and several Scots-language books for children, including the award-winning Animal ABC: A Scots Alphabet.
Beautifully presented OUP, it is a joy both to behold and to hold -
and will be held in esteem by who care for the welfare of our
Scottish language.
*David W. Purdie, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical
Society*
This excellent study of a work of monumental scope and importance,
and of the admirable man who produced it, combines meticulous
research with lucid expression and a highly readable style. It will
assuredly be welcomed by all readers with an interest in the Scots
language, and in Scotland's intellectual history.
*J. Derrick McClure, Scottish Studies Newsletter*
Rennie's book stands as an example of how scholarly biography - of
both Jamieson and his Dictionary - should be composed, laying open
the connections between the author and his work and his own time,
our own times and them and the time which lies between.
*Robert McColl Millar, Scottish Language no.30*
It is very difficult to find any fault with this book. It is
erudite but also compelling and is beautifully edited...including a
number of plates which help illuminate the texts.
*Robert McColl Millar, Scottish Language no.30*
[This] book is a detailed work of research, but it is written in a
fluent and lively style which makes it a pleasure to read.
*Paul Henderson Scott, Scottish Review of Books*
Rennie offers a judicious sampling of Jamieson's definitions ...
Though last published on paper in 1927, Jamieson's tangy Dictionary
ascended into cyberspace in 2008. In Susan Rennie it has found its
ideal chronicler. Engaged and engaging
*Robert Crawford, Times Literary SupplementJ. Derrick McClure,
School of Language and Literature, University of Aberdeen*
Jamieson's Dictionary has found a worthy historian in the author of
this excellent book ... it is the mature, learned, confident work
of an established authority on her subject.
*John Considine, Historiographia Linguistica*
Jamieson's Dictionary of Scots is a thoughtful and very carefully
researched book that provides a sympathetic treatment of its
eponymous hero and his lexicographical work. Until now, it was
quite a challenge for anyone to find out much about this man
without undertaking considerable research of their own. Rennie has
done much here to rehabilitate his memory, and her monograph will
be of special interest to students and scholars of Scots, the
lexicography of Scots and English, and of Scottish literature. It
is also a fascinating social history, and Rennie's account of the
mundane trials Jamieson faced is a humbling reminder of the
everyday obstacles he encountered during the production of his
magnum opus.
*Maggie Scott, International Journal of Lexicography*
engaging in style and illuminating in content, placing Jamieson and
his Dictionary firmly where they deserve to be in the history of
Scotland, of Scots, and of lexicography.
*Margaret A. Mackay, Studies in Hogg and his World*
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