Thomas Richards of Coychurch

Thomas Richards (c. 1710 – 20 March 1790) was a Welsh curate from Coychurch in the eighteenth century, best known for his 1753 Thesaurus, a Welsh-English dictionary.[1]

Life

Born about 1710 in Glamorganshire, served for forty years the curacy of Coychurch (Llan Grallo) and Coety in that county. Richards died on 20 March 1790.[2]

Works

In 1746 Richards published a Welsh translation of a tract on the Cruelties and Persecutions of the Church of Rome, by Philip Morant. His major work was Antiquæ Linguæ Britannicæ Thesaurus, Bristol, 1753, a Welsh-English Dictionary, with a Welsh grammar prefixed, dedicated to Frederick, Prince of Wales. Based mainly on the work of John Davies and Edward Llwyd, his dictionary was fuller than any which had yet appeared.[2] Other sources were William Wotton and Richard Morris.[3] It has been suggested that Richards borrowed manuscripts from John Bradford.[4] A second edition appeared at Trefriw in 1815, a third in the same year at Dolgelly, and a fourth at Merthyr Tydfil in 1838.[2]

Richards was credited with work on the 1812 edition of William Evans's English-Welsh dictionary.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Prys Morgan, p. 43 in The Invention of Tradition (1992), Eric J. Hobsbawm, Terence O. Ranger (editors); Google Books.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2  "Richards, Thomas (1710?-1790)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Crowe, Richard. "Richards, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23540. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ↑ iolomorganwg.wales.ac.uk page, John Bradford (1706-85).
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Richards, Thomas (1710?-1790)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.