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Abstract
John Minsheu's 1617 eleven-language polyglot dictionary, Ductor in Linguas, marks the beginning of general English etymological dictionaries. Its importance to English lexicography, an understanding of etymological theory, and historical and theoretical linguistics in the Renaissance has been overlooked. It came far closer to the ideal dictionary called for by Mulcaster than other English dictionary of the 16th or 17th century and anticipates the large, modern historical dictionary.
In size and scope there is no equivalent English dictionary until the 18th century. Minsheu systematically adopted entries from specialized subjects and common English words, focusing on the etymologies of both the English entries and the foreign words included. It soon became a standard reference work for subsequent lexicographers, who gathered from Minsheu etymologies and examples of earlier forms of English words.
Minsheu's work reveals two major interests not normally associated with the period. J. C. Scaliger had argued convincingly that there is no natural connection of word and thing. This shift forced etymologists to quit looking for "original, true" names and focus on finding the earliest forms of words, which had arisen through convention. Consequently, serious etymologists could no longer be satisfied with relating contemporary words to classical forms or concepts without paying closer attention to regular semantic and phonological change. Minsheu also saw etymology as a primary pedagogical aid for learning and remembering foreign languages. The link between a word and its etymology was a central mnemonic device.
Both of these concerns helped to encourage the rise of Germanic philology. As reflected in Minsheu, studies of the Germanic languages were influenced by a lack of the extensive evidence available later and a sociolinguistic impulse to emphasize the similarities of especially the Low German dialects. Religion and nationalism colored the hypotheses of scholarly investigation.
The Ductor represents an early attempt at a comparative etymological dictionary of the Indo-European languages, and as such contains not only invaluable linguistic evidence, but also hundreds of references to the major works on language of the Classical, Medieval, and early Renaissance periods.
