Ainsworth's Dictionary: Difference between revisions
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}}Born in 1660 in the parish of Eccles, about four miles outside Manchester, England, lexicographer [[wikipedia:Robert Ainsworth (lexicographer)|Robert Ainsworth]] taught school in Bolton before becoming the master of a boarding school at Bethnal Green.<ref>R. D. Smith, "[https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/241 Ainsworth, Robert (1660–1743), lexicographer and schoolmaster]," <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.</i> 23 Sep. 2004; | }}Born in 1660 in the parish of Eccles, about four miles outside Manchester, England, lexicographer [[wikipedia:Robert Ainsworth (lexicographer)|Robert Ainsworth]] taught school in Bolton before becoming the master of a boarding school at Bethnal Green.<ref>R. D. Smith, "[https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/241 Ainsworth, Robert (1660–1743), lexicographer and schoolmaster]," <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.</i> 23 Sep. 2004; accessed October 1, 2025.</ref> The latter marked the first of many teaching positions in villages around London.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> In addition to teaching, Ainsworth wrote on a number of pedagogical topics and was one of the earliest proponents of total immersion for language learning.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> | ||
Nominated in 1714 to create a new Latin and English dictionary, Ainsworth published the first edition of ''Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius, or, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue: Designed for the Use of the British Nations'' in 1736.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> He began working on the second edition with the help of Dr. Samuel Patrick, who published it in 1746, three years after Ainsworth's death. A popular publication, editions of the dictionary or various abridgments would continue to be produced until 1882.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> | Nominated in 1714 to create a new Latin and English dictionary, Ainsworth published the first edition of ''Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius, or, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue: Designed for the Use of the British Nations'' in 1736.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> He began working on the second edition with the help of Dr. Samuel Patrick, who published it in 1746, three years after Ainsworth's death. A popular publication, editions of the dictionary or various abridgments would continue to be produced until 1882.<ref>Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."</ref> | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
Read the third edition (1790) of this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=cu8-AAAAcAAJ&dq=An%20Abridgement%20of%20the%20Last%20Quarto%20Edition%20of%20Ainsworth%27s%20Dictionary Google Books] | Read the third edition (1790) of this book in [http://books.google.com/books?id=cu8-AAAAcAAJ&dq=An%20Abridgement%20of%20the%20Last%20Quarto%20Edition%20of%20Ainsworth%27s%20Dictionary Google Books] | ||
[[Category:Dictionaries]] | [[Category:Dictionaries]] | ||
[[Category:Jefferson's Books]] | [[Category:Jefferson's Books]] | ||
Latest revision as of 19:34, 9 January 2026
by Robert Ainsworth
| Ainsworth's Dictionary | ||
 at the College of William & Mary. |
||
| Author | Robert Ainsworth | |
| Edition | Precise edition unknown | |
| Desc. | 8vo | |
Born in 1660 in the parish of Eccles, about four miles outside Manchester, England, lexicographer Robert Ainsworth taught school in Bolton before becoming the master of a boarding school at Bethnal Green.[1] The latter marked the first of many teaching positions in villages around London.[2] In addition to teaching, Ainsworth wrote on a number of pedagogical topics and was one of the earliest proponents of total immersion for language learning.[3]
Nominated in 1714 to create a new Latin and English dictionary, Ainsworth published the first edition of Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Compendiarius, or, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue: Designed for the Use of the British Nations in 1736.[4] He began working on the second edition with the help of Dr. Samuel Patrick, who published it in 1746, three years after Ainsworth's death. A popular publication, editions of the dictionary or various abridgments would continue to be produced until 1882.[5]
Ainsworth designed his dictionary for use in schools and in teaching the use of both English and Latin for formal composition.[6] He included explanations of homonyms to assist translators in the English section, as well as illustrative quotations from classical authors in the Latin section.[7] Along with its linguistic content, the dictionary features abundant supplementary information, including a historical account of Latin through the ages,[8] a list of common names and their English and Latin etymology,[9] and even a list of Latin words used in Roman law.[10] The Abridgement omits full verb declination instead focusing on a more efficient presentation of the verb form and a description of the pattern it follows.[11] The abridger made this choice for pedagogical purposes to attempt to force students to remember the declination and verb forms.[12]
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "Ainsworth's dict. Eng. Abridged. 8vo." This was one of the titles kept by Thomas Jefferson and possibly later sold to the Library of Congress in 1815.[13] Brown's Bibliography[14] lists the 1774 London edition while George Wythe's Library[15] on LibraryThing indicates "Precise edition unknown. Octavo abridgments were published in 1774, 1785, 1790, 1794, and 1798."
To date, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to locate a copy of Ainsworth's Abridgement.
See also
References
- ↑ R. D. Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert (1660–1743), lexicographer and schoolmaster," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; accessed October 1, 2025.
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Robert Ainsworth and Thomas Morell, An Abridgement of the Last Quarto Edition, (Charles Rivington, 1790).
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Robert Ainsworth, Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ Compendiarius: Or, A Compendious Dictionary of the Latin Tongue: Designed for the Use of the British Nations, 3rd ed. (London: Printed by C. and J. Ackers, for W. Mount and T. Page...[et al.], 1751.
- ↑ Ainsworth, Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ Compendiarius.
- ↑ Smith, "Ainsworth, Robert."
- ↑ Ainsworth and Morell, An Abridgement.
- ↑ Ainsworth and Morell, An Abridgement.
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 5:91 [no.4803]. Jefferson noted "Ainsworth's dict. Lat. Eng. abridged. 2.v. 8vo." in the 1815 catalogue of he books sold to the Library of Congress. Since he doesn't list Wythe's copy as a 2 volume set, Wythe's may have been one of the numerous single volume editions.
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.
- ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on May 2, 2023. LibraryThing notes "A copy of this was bound in two volumes: calf, gilt, for Jefferson by Joseph Milligan, 30 April 1808 (cost $2)." Perhaps the copy sold to the Library of Congress was Wythe's and Jefferson rebound it. See Sowerby note above.
External Links
Read the third edition (1790) of this book in Google Books