Christian Ludwig (1660-1728) and the beginnings of German/English lexicography

McLelland, Nicola

Abstract

Christian Ludwig’s 1706 A dictionary English, German, and French and his 1716 Teutsch–Englisches Lexicon were the first bilingual dictionaries published in response to an emerging German interest in learning English. Setting the dictionaries in the wider context of European bilingual lexicography, I argue that such dictionaries are valuable sources for linguistic and cultural history, in parallel to the more widely studied monolingual dictionaries. Taking advantage of the digitisation of Ludwig’s dictionaries, I show that in his 1706 English–German dictionary, adapted from the English/French dictionaries of Abel Boyer to fill a gap he identified as a practising teacher, Ludwig did not merely translate, but made systematic changes. In his larger German–English dictionary of 1716, Ludwig took his word-list largely from Kramer’s German–Italian dictionary (1700–1702), but used his own judgement in structuring entries and choosing — as well as expanding the range of — examples, reflecting his experience as a teacher and translator. I suggest that the different approach taken in dictionaries by teachers of non-native learners to explaining word meaning, pronunciation, and usage has yielded sources which — newly accessible thanks to digitisation - will enrich our understanding of language change and language standardisation, and of cultural change and exchange, where I argue for the value of taking a cross-linguistic, comparative perspective.

Citation

McLelland, N. (2024). Christian Ludwig (1660-1728) and the beginnings of German/English lexicography. Oxford German Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/00787191.2024.2313897

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 31, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 5, 2024
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 2, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 10, 2024
• Journal: Oxford German Studies
• Print ISSN: 0078-7191
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-9214
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00787191.2024.2313897
• Keywords: Christian Ludwig; Bilingual dictionaries; English; German; History of lexicography
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/30662576
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00787191.2024.2313897
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=yogs20; Published: 2024-04-05