My name is John Rose and I am an online History major at the University of Central Florida. I am married and live in Naples, FL. I hope to graduate in 2022. Two professions occupy my time outside of college: preaching for the Churches of Christ and teaching/guest teaching at a local high school. Though they may seem unrelated, preaching, history and lexicography are all quite related. A successful preacher must be well versed in history of all sorts and his stock in trade is words. This internship with the dictionary project fits very nicely into my chosen fields of endeavor.
A particular research interest of mine is lexicography -- mainly of the English language but also Koine Greek and to lesser degrees, Hebrew and Latin. Dictionaries have been an interest of mine since early childhood. I used to sit and read an old 1960's set of World Book dictionaries when I was in elementary school. Now my interest has matured to the peerless work of English lexicography: the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Any word lover would be hard put not to drool over the set's 20,000 pages of dictionary delights. There is an apt connection between Johnson's work and the OED in the use of quotations to show context. This use set apart Johnson's work in the eighteenth century as it has subsequently with the OED.
Johnson's dictionary also has a particular connection to preaching in that the current commonly used edition of the King James Version is from 1769 which makes it a contemporary of Johnson's work. It is this contemporaneous connection that has lead me to consult Johnson at various times when examining the King James Version's eighteenth century text. Needless to say, one must investigate word usage congruent to the time in which a given text was written. Word usages can change over time!
My initial reaction to hearing of this project was excitement and hope. I was excited to find a work so near to my heart and hoped that it might open avenues to further explorations of a similar sort that may prove useful for future employment. Thorough lexicographic research seems a rather ideal form of employment. I can say little about the project itself other than its obvious purpose and subject matter since the first week of the semester has been used mainly for introductions and completion of various necessary forms. However, the project does offer two important things to the student: a thorough introduction to the dictionary by way of detailed scrutiny and experience converting written text into digital database format. The one having obvious use in our digital age and the other useful for learning textual context, a necessity for every student of history and language.
I look forward to working with Dr. Young, Dr. French and the others students on the team and hope for a broadly successful semester for all from which we will garner a greater appreciation for our lingua franca and those like Johnson who have labored to make English a more accessible and understood tongue.
Until next time.
John
