This project summarizes the evolution of English and Spanish bilingual and historical lexicography in the 16th-17th century. In due course, British Hispanists such as Richard Percyvall, John Thorius and John Minsheu, moved by the interest of expanding the importance of learning Spanish, compiled grammar textbooks, dictionaries and glossaries among other materials. The relevance of Spanish language in England was inevitably connected to the external politics of Tudor England and The Spanish Empire, starting with the union of Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon and culminating with the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada during the Anglo-Spanish War. Yet, the major interest of this project is the study of John Minsheu’s 1599 bilingual English-Spanish dictionary from a lexicographic and contextual perspective. Likewise, this project sheds light on other exemplary works of the English-Spanish lexicography of the period.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Historical and linguistic background
2.1 Socio-political relations between England and Spain
2.2 The emergence of Spanish in England
3. Introduction to the life and work of John Minsheu
4. A Lexicographic Study of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary
4.1 Macrostructure of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary
4.2 Microstructure of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary
5. Conclusion
6. References.
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This project explores the development of 16th and 17th-century English-Spanish lexicography, with a primary focus on the contextual and structural analysis of John Minsheu's 1599 dictionary. It examines the historical socio-political tensions between England and Spain that drove the need for bilingual resources and provides a descriptive linguistic study of the dictionary's macrostructure and microstructure.
- Historical context of Anglo-Spanish diplomatic and military relations in the Tudor era.
- The rise of modern language learning and bilingual lexicography in 16th-century England.
- Biographical and professional overview of the lexicographer John Minsheu.
- Lexicographic analysis of the 1599 dictionary, focusing on organization, entries, and phonetic markers.
- Evaluation of the influence of Richard Percyvall and the role of contemporary sources.
Excerpt from the Book
4.1 Macrostructure of Minsheu’s English-Spanish Dictionary
Letter G appears on page 304 of Minsheu’s English-Spanish section and ends in page 308. This letter-section comprises a number of 602 entries arranged pseudo-alphabetically and displayed in triple-column pages (Guerrero Ramos, & Pérez. F, 2000). At the top of each column, the pages contain three-letters headings, underneath which, a list of lemmas follow. Many of the lemmas placed in the columns share their initial syllable with the characters showcased in the headings above. Overall, letter G contains up to thirteen triple-headings, which are those that follow:
GAL, GAR, GEN, GIL, GLA, GLO, GOD, GOR, GRA, GRA, GRE, GRO, GVI
However, it is notorious how these headings do not match the entries’ initial syllables immediately after. This proves that the order of the entries is oftentimes inconsistent. In the entry below, for example, the headword’s first syllable differs from the characters of the heading:
“to Gad vp and downe, vide Vagueár” (2nd column, Triple heading: GAL. pp. 304)
Other entries do, nonetheless, coincide with the characters of the headings at the top. Notice, for instance, the case of “Gale” right below:
“a Gale or blast of winde, vide Colláde viento” (2nd column, Triple heading: GAL. pp. 304)
In addition, headings composed of two characters appear somewhere in-between the columns, amid the entries per se. I shall refer to headings of this kind as double headings from now on. In total, the double headings displayed in letter G are the ones written below:
GE, GH, GI, GL, GN, GO, GR, GV, GY
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of the research scope, focusing on the context and linguistic scrutiny of John Minsheu’s 1599 dictionary as a paradigmatic example of bilingual lexicography.
2. Historical and linguistic background: This section explores the socio-political relationship between England and Spain during the Tudor era and traces the emergence of Spanish language learning in England.
3. Introduction to the life and work of John Minsheu: This chapter covers the biography of the English lexicographer and discusses the origins and funding of his dictionary project.
4. A Lexicographic Study of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary: This core analytical chapter describes the structure of the dictionary, examining its macrostructure (headings and organization) and microstructure (entries and linguistic features).
5. Conclusion: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, highlighting Minsheu's contribution to lexicography despite the era's technical limitations and his reliance on earlier works like Percyvall's.
6. References.: This section lists the academic sources, historical records, and lexicographic studies cited throughout the project.
Keywords
John Minsheu, English-Spanish lexicography, historical linguistics, Tudor era, Anglo-Spanish relations, bilingual dictionary, macrostructure, microstructure, lemma, language history, sixteenth-century, dictionary organization, lexicographic study, cross-referential, Spanish language learning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this research project fundamentally about?
The project provides a comprehensive contextual and lexicographical analysis of John Minsheu’s 1599 dictionary, assessing its structure, organization, and significance in the history of bilingual lexicography.
What are the central thematic fields of the work?
The work centers on historical linguistics, the development of English-Spanish bilingualism during the 16th and 17th centuries, and the evolution of lexicographical methodology in early modern England.
What is the primary objective or research question?
The primary objective is to evaluate Minsheu's 1599 dictionary as a lexicographic model, focusing on how the work was organized, how it handled lemmata, and how it reflected the linguistic needs of its time.
Which scientific method is used?
The author employs a descriptive, comparative, and structural analysis method, utilizing case studies of specific sections (such as letter G) to illustrate patterns in Minsheu’s compilation techniques.
What does the main body cover?
The main body covers the historical context of Anglo-Spanish relations, Minsheu’s biography, a detailed breakdown of the dictionary's macro- and microstructure, and an analysis of its inconsistencies and reliance on prior sources.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include John Minsheu, Anglo-Spanish relations, language history, lemma, entry, lexicography, macrostructure, and microstructure.
How does the author assess Minsheu's reliance on Richard Percyvall?
The research suggests that Minsheu viewed Percyvall’s 'Bibliotheca Hispanica' as a primary source, often revising, copying, and expanding upon it rather than working entirely independently.
What specific lexicographical features does the author observe in letter G?
The author identifies the use of triple-column layouts, triple and double headings, inconsistent alphabetical ordering, and specific typographic choices, such as using Gothic font for headwords and italics for function words.
Why does the author consider the dictionary "monodirectional"?
Although the dictionary is nominally bidirectional, the author argues that the English-Spanish section lacks the depth needed by Spanish native speakers, effectively making the dictionary more useful in only one direction.
- Citar trabajo
- Angela Camara Rojo (Autor), 2017, A Contextual and Lexicographic Study of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary (1599), Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/418113
