Stephen Skinner (1623–1667) was an English Lincoln physician, lexicographer and etymologist.

Life

He was the son of John Skinner of London. He matriculated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, on 6 December 1639; but when the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

broke out, he left England. In 1646 Skinner was again at Oxford, and in consideration of his foreign service he was allowed to accumulate both his arts degrees in that same year, graduating B.A. on 21 October and M.A. on 10 November. On 22 April 1649 he entered as a medical student at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

, on 6 May 1653 at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, and on 4 November 1653 was again at Leyden. At the beginning of 1654 he graduated M.D. at Heidelberg, and on 26 May of that year was incorporated in the same degree at Oxford. Skinner was made honorary fellow of the London

College of Physicians A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school ...

in December 1664. He practised in Lincoln where he died of malignant fever on 5 September 1667. Administration of his estate was granted to his sister, Elizabeth Bowyer, and his daughter Stephanie Skinner, on 7 September 1667.

Works

Skinner left behind him some philological treatises in manuscript, and they were edited by Thomas Henshaw and published in London in 1671, under the title of ''Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ''.1671 ''Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae: Seu Explicatio Vocum Anglicarum Etymologica Ex Proprils Fontibus Scil. Ex Linguis Duodecim''. This work was the first important

etymological dictionary An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Webster's'', will contain some etymological informat ...

of English. Appearing three years before

John Ray John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (November 29, 1627 – January 17, 1705) was a Christian England, English Natural history, naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his ...

's glossary of

English dialects Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and other aspects of grammar. For the classification of varieties of English in pronunciation only, see regional accents of English. Overview Dialect ...

, Skinner's dictionary presents a number of dialectal expressions of his native

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

acknowledged his indebtedness to Skinner in the preface to his ''Dictionary'' (1755).

References

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

. *D. A. Cruse (ed.), ''Lexikologie'' (2002), p. 1235.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Stephen 1623 births 1667 deaths 17th-century English medical doctors 17th-century lexicographers English lexicographers Leiden University alumni