Beginnings: First Week

This has been the beginning of our individual assignments for the Johnson's Dictionary Online Project. I have been assigned as a proofreader. My work consists of comparing database entries with a scanned copy of an original 1755 edition of the dictionary. If any errors are found in the online entry the error is noted and described on the project's shared ".xlsx" file. All of the proofreading participants share the same Google file that is updated in real time as entries are checked and errors noted. It is easy to tell who is working at the same time you are by noting whose names are shown at the top of the Google page. The shared format reinforces the community spirit and team effort being brought to the project.

My entries started with "deuce." This English word comes from the French "deux." The English and the French have the same usage: "two." However, English usage also includes "devil" which the French does not. When used to indicate "devil" or "the devil," Johnson gives the alternate spelling "deuse" which is used only for this meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary offers that "deuce," meaning "devil," may have come from the German "daus" or Low German "duus." To add more complexity to this little word with a small meaning, the Old French word for two was spelled "deus." Since the French words were not used to signify "devil," the German etymology seems the more compelling. This example shows that even little words with limited usages can have complex and often convoluted histories.

At this juncture it might be useful to offer a fine adage I learned long ago: "Dictionaries give possible usages, context gives meanings." Our word "deuce" is an apt example. When "deuce" is found in a reading one must determine how it is used and thus, its meaning. Is it used to indicate "two" or "devil?" Reason indicates that it will not be both. Context must be ascertained to discover the meaning. Practice will make this process quite automatic; it is an ability well worth developing.

Another interesting word from this week is "Deuteronomy." This word is certainly not new to those familiar with the English translations of the Hebrew Old Testament. One might suppose that this word is the Hebrew title of the fifth book of the Bible. It is not. "Deuteronomy" comes from the Septuagint, the third century B.C. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Johnson correctly states that the word is a compound of the Greek root δεύτερος, meaning second and νόμος, meaning law. The Greek compound, δευτερονόμιον is found at Deu. 17:18. Some have taken this to mean a "second law," another law -- which is even suggested by Johnson's definition. The text of the book, however, is not the giving of a separate law, but a reiteration of that already given. Thus, the English translation follows the original Hebrew and uses "copy" rather than second (cf. Joshua 8:32). Once more, context (coupled with historical Hebrew usage) is everything.

I suppose it might fairly be said that the history of words is the history of everything, for how do we communicate the past but through words? Lexicography is a foundational subject which opens many doors of knowledge and understanding.

Until next time.

John