George William Lemon

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The Reverend George William Lemon (1726 – 4 June 1797) was the author of an early etymological dictionary of the English language, published in 1783.

Lemon graduated at Queens College, Cambridge in 1747. He was Rector of Geytonthorpe, Vicar of East Walton, Norfolk from 1755, and master of Norwich free grammar school, 1769-78.

Lemon considered the English language as founded on six older idioms (preface, p. ix),

  1. "The Hebrew, or Phoenician" (Semitic)
  2. "The Greek"
  3. "The Latin, or Italian" (Romance)
  4. "The Celtic, or French"
  5. "The Saxon, Teutonic, or German" (West Germanic)
  6. "The Icelandic, and other Northern dialects" (North Germanic)

The entries consequently focus on English words of Latin or Greek derivation. Twenty years before the discovery of Grimm's law, Lemon cannot be expected to give sound etymologies of Germanic words, and promptly derives acorn from Greek akros, or addle from Greek athlos. Lemon's dictionary is thus of historical interest as a pioneer work of philology on the eve of the discoveries of William Jones, Friedrich Schlegel and Rasmus Rask that mark the beginning of modern linguistics.

Ralph Griffiths' Monthly Review in 1785 (vol. 71[1], 171-177) reviewed Lemon's dictionary, somewhat ironically, as an extraordinary and delectable work,

"The author, perched on his etymological dunghill, claps his wings, and crows in defiance of all who have scraped the dunghill before him. He hath found jewels which escaped their superficial search; and, like a cock of wisdom, knows how to use them when he hath found them; — and is disposed to call us fools for not comprehending their value."


[edit] Works

  • 1774 Græcæ Grammaticæ Rudimenta
  • 1783 English Etymology Or, A Derivative Dictionary Of The English Language: In Two Alphabets. Tracing the Etymology of those Words that are derived (1.) from the Greek and Latin Languages; (2.) from the Saxon and Northern Tongues. The Whole Compiled From Vossius, Meric Casaubon, Spelman, Somner, Minshew, Junius, Skinner, Verstegan, Ray, Nugent, Upton, Cleland, And Other Etymologists. [2]

[edit] References

  • Dictionary of National Biography (1903).
  • Danby P. Fry Esq. (1859) ON SOME ENGLISH DICTIONARIES: Alfred Augustus Fry Transactions of the Philological Society 6 (1) , 257–272.
  • Henry B. Wheatley Esq (1865) XV.-CHRONOLOGICAL NOTICES OF THE DICTIONARIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Transactions of the Philological Society 10 (1) , 218–293.