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

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

. In 1623, he authored the third known

English Language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

, 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 status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, 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. 1578 – 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'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 principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

, 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