SAMUEL JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY AND THE STRATEGIES OF LEXICOGRAPHIC MODERNITY
SAMUEL JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY AND THE STRATEGIES OF LEXICOGRAPHIC MODERNITY

Summary/Abstract: Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary has been seen as the first “modern” dictionary in the British cultural environment, since it is the first English dictionary that attempts to reduce language to method, registering terms in a systematic manner and providing contexts that fix the usage of these terms. Johnson is the first to transform his lexicographic model into a model of authority, imposing a lexicographic standard that should be viewed as related to his literary canon. Since the Dictionary in itself can be seen as a modern institution and Johnson’s Dictionary as an instance of a modern model of authority, this paper proposes to examine the way in which modern discourse is modelled in Johnson’s Dictionary. To this effect, my aim is to examine the strategies of representation, which I have called the strategies of lexicographic modernity, which mark the Dictionary as part of the modern cultural discourse. The strategy that this paper emphasises is that of etymology, seen as an attempt to recuperate the meaning of a word. This type of strategy is typical of the Enlightenment discourse and may be regarded as included in the general tendency towards “clear communication” or “transparency” that characterises the linguistic philosophy underlying this discourse. An investigation of etymology and its relations with the terms defined may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms at the basis of modern discursive practices.

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