Solvitur Ambulando

The Oxford English Dictionary,a stupendous phenomenon in the realm of the English language,has spawned many critical and evaluative studies in the English-speaking world.This dissertation undertakes to examine it in the context of the interaction between history and lexicography.The dictionary was emvisioned,as its initial title claims,a "new" English dictionary on "historical principles." Its lexicography,both in theory and in practice, turns out to have been profoundly influenced by history,which is reflected specifically and significantly in the tradition of English lexicography,in the rise of comparative philology,and in the ideals and predilections of its makers.First,as one of the apogees in the history of English lexicography,the dictionary,in terms of method as well as content,benefited substantially from the attainments of earlier Englist dictionaries,making possible the superiority of its lexicography.Second,comparative philology fumished the dictionary with a solid theoretical groundwork,whereon to construct an empirical record for the evolutional continuum of the English language.Third,through a concerted effort of the editors, the publisher,and the volunteer readers,the ever-changing Zeitgeist asserted itself in the dictionary:national awareness,commercialism,moral and intellectual conservatism,the boom of science and technology,and so forth left their marks behind and made this work of lexicography literally historical.These three dimensions precisely delineate the interaction between history and lexicography in the making of this masterwork.History and lexicography thus combine to become the main thrust of this dissertation.The proven fact is that the dictionary,with its substance scrutinized microscopically,is indisputably a magnum opus of lexicography on history,for history, and in history.It is to be hoped that future criticism of the dictionary can be better conducted in this light.