Elisha Coles (c. 1640 – 1680) was a

17th-century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (Roman numerals, MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (Roman numerals, MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by ...

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 ...

and stenographer.

Life

He was son of John Coles, schoolmaster of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, and nephew of

Elisha Coles Elisha Coles (c. 1640 – 1680) was a 17th-century English lexicographer and stenographer. Life He was son of John Coles, schoolmaster of Wolverhampton, and nephew of Elisha Coles the religious author. He became chorister of Magdalen Coll ...

the religious author. He became chorister of

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 1658–61; teacher of Latin and English in London, 1663; usher of Merchant Taylors' School, 1677; first headmaster of

Erasmus Smith Erasmus Smith (1611–1691) was an English merchant and a landowner with possessions in England and Ireland. Having acquired significant wealth through trade and land transactions, he became a philanthropist in the sphere of education, treading ...

's school in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, 1678. He published devotional verses, 1671, a treatise on shorthand, 1674, primers of English and Latin, 1674-5, an English dictionary, 1676, and a Latin dictionary, 1677. The shorthand used by

Thomas Bayes Thomas Bayes ( ; 1701 7 April 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher and Presbyterian minister who is known for formulating a specific case of the theorem that bears his name: Bayes' theorem. Bayes never published what would become his ...

has been identified as that of Thomas Shelton, as modified by Coles. His 1676 ''Dictionary'' contains :"many words and phrases that belong to our

English Dialects Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. For the classification of varieties of English only in terms of pronunciation, see regional accents of English. Overview Dialects can be defi ...

in our several Counties, and where the particular Shire is not exprest, the distinction (according to the use) is more general into North and South-Country words." Coles' dialectal entries are mostly collected from the glossary by

John Ray John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...

with some additions from the ''Dictionarium Rusticum'' in

John Worlidge John Worlidge or John Woolridge (1640–1700) was a noted English agriculturalist, who lived in Petersfield, Hampshire, England. He was considered a great expert on rural affairs, and one of the first British agriculturalists to discuss the import ...

's 1669 ''Systema Agriculturae''.

Works

*''Christologia, Or, A Metrical Paraphrase on the History of Our Lord'' (1671) was perhaps by this Elisha Coles, or the son of the same name of his uncle Elisha. *''The Compleat English Schoolmaster'' (1674) *''Nolens Volens, Or, You Shall Make Latin Whether You Will Or No'' *''A Dictionary, English-Latin and Latin English'' *''An English Dictionary: Explaining the Difficult Terms that are used in Divinity, Husbandry, Physick, Phylosophy, Law, Navigation, Mathematicks, and Other Arts and Sciences'' (1676) *''Syncrisis, Or, The Most Natural and Easie Method of Learning Latin'' (1677) *''Of Perseverance''

References

External links

*http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/westbury/paradigm/Burness.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Elisha English lexicographers 1600s births 1688 deaths