Henry Cockeram (''dates unknown''; flourished 1623–1658) was an English

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

. In 1623, he authored the third known

English Language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

, and the first to contain the title "dictionary".

Life

Little is known about Cockeram beyond the fact that he authored this work.Blank, p. 174 From the various dedications in his works, it is apparent that he lived in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, England, where contemporary records suggest that he could be the Henrye Cockram who married Elizabethe Strashley, on 2 February 1613. The dedications and prefixes on the first edition show a friendship with

John Webster John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...

, the playwright, who wrote: Cockeram's dictionary was not intended to be an exhaustive list of words and definitions. As he states on the title page of his first edition, it was to aid " dies and Gentlewomen, young Schollers, Clarkes, Merchants, as also Strangers of any Nation, to the understanding of the more difficult Authors already printed in our Language". In terms of sources for his work, Cockeram turned to John Bullokar, who authored another dictionary, the ''English Expositor'', in 1616. It is almost certain that Cockeram took many of his definitions from a Dutchman, known only as A. M., who translated Oswald Gaebelkhover's famous medical journal, ''Boock of Physicke'', from Dutch into English.Riddell, pp. 226–227 James A. Riddell gives evidence that other sources likely to have been used include Thomas Dekker's ''The Strange Horse Race'' of 1613. Cockeram went through the book, locating words that could be included, and when he found a word that was used in

Robert Cawdrey Robert Cawdrey (ca. 1538 – after 1604) was an English clergyman who produced one of the first dictionaries of the English language, the ''Table Alphabeticall'', in 1604. Career Robert Cawdrey did not attend university, but became a school tea ...

's ''Table Alphbeticall'' (the first known dictionary of English), he copied Cawdrey's definition. Cockeram acknowledged the use of other lexicographers on the title page of his dictionary; on one edition, it said that the work was "a Collection of the choicest words contained in the ''Table Alphabeticall'' and the ''English Expositor'', and of some thousand of words never published by any heretofore". Despite this, he translated or Anglicised a number of words, shown in the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

, which attributes the source of approximately 600 words to Cockeram's dictionary. The dictionary was a general success, and did not meet with much contemporary criticism. It went through eleven editions between 1623 and 1658, and until 1656, Bullokar's ''English Expositor'' was its only rival.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockeram, Henry English lexicographers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown