Chapter published in:
Processes of Change: Studies in Late Modern and Present-Day EnglishEdited by Sandra Jansen and Lucia Siebers
[Studies in Language Variation 21] 2019
► pp. 95–114
Scotland’s contribution to English vocabulary in Late Modern times
This chapter discusses some nineteenth-century Scottish authors, lexicographers, and periodicals that are
frequently cited as sources in the Oxford English Dictionary, in order to assess their role in the
expansion of English vocabulary that occurred throughout Late Modern times. As these citations concern the first
instances of both new lexical items and of new meanings, their proportion is analyzed paying special attention to
the former. Literary sources are considered on account of their relative popularity at different points in time, but
the article also discusses periodicals and dictionaries, which could have a greater or lesser encyclopaedic approach
to the vocabulary they collected. The study shows that the complexity of lexical accretion in Late Modern times
requires the study of a broad range of materials in the cultural framework in which they were produced and received.
Keywords: Late Modern English, Scotland, Scots, Scottish English, lexicography, lexical borrowing, cultural history
Published online: 13 August 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.21.06dos
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.21.06dos
References
References
Primary sources
OED
,
The Oxford English Dictionary
www.oed.com. Last accessed March 2019.
Jamieson, John
Ure, Andrew
.21840
A dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines
. London: Longman, www.gutenberg.org/files/44562/44562-h/44562-h.htm. Last accessed March 2019.
Secondary sources
Brewer, Charlotte
Collin, Zacharias
1862 An essay on the Scoto-English dialect. Lund: Berlings Printing Office.
Copeman, W. S. C.
Dareau, Marace G. & Iseabail Macleod
Forthcoming. Usage Guides, Social Commentary and Views on Education in Late Modern Scotland. Brno Studies in English.
Farrar, W. V.
Hickey, Raymond
Holmes, Daniel T.
Kidd, Colin
Murray, Katharine M. E.
Nebbia, Giorgio
2005 Andrew Ure (1778–1857). Altronovecento 10, www.fondazionemicheletti.it/altronovecento/articolo.aspx?id_articolo=10&tipo_articolo=d_persone&id=42. Last accessed March 2018.