October 16th is Dictionary Day.
Dictionary Day is in honour of Noah Webster, whose birthday falls on this day, and who is considered the Father of the American Dictionary. Webster’s Dictionary was a required book in my high school in Cairo, Egypt. One of our regular homework assignments was to write out the full definitions of our vocabulary words, including the etymology. And of course, as much as I hated it then, I am grateful now for the wealth of knowledge studying those word histories has given me.
For the month of October, I will be reviewing books about dictionaries, in honour of lexicographers past and present, and with a penitent heart for ever having doubted the wisdom of my high school English teacher for burying me in words.
Here is a list of what I’ve got on deck for the month, in no particular order:
The King’s English by Kingsley Amis
There’s a Word for It by Charles Harrington Elster
Forgotten English by Jeffrey Kacirk
The Novelist’s Lexicon Ed. Villa Gillet/Le Monde
The Disheveled Dictionary by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester
Lost for Words by Lynda Mugglestone
Any other suggestions? Favourite dictionaries or books about them?
Nathalie Foy 
I second The Meaning of Everything! 🙂 And also cannot refrain from mentioning that October 16 is also Oscar Wilde’s birthday! Wooooo!
There’s a very good book you might want to add to your list called Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary by Henry Hitchings.
Here’s Dr. Johnson on dictionaries: “Dictionaries are like watches. The worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.”
There’s also the very enjoyable Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce which now seems to available in an online format:
http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com
And here’s what Bierce says on the subject:
DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.
Thanks, Sara. I’ve picked up The Devil’s Dictionary a few times, then put it back down, so I’m glad to see its online incarnation. I will look out for the Hitchings book.
Here’s a timely write up on Bierce:
http://thesmartset.com/article/article09261101.aspx
Interesting project – looking forward to seeing what you have to say.