Small Dictionaries and Curiosity Lexicography and Fieldwork in Post-Medieval Europe

, by
Small Dictionaries and Curiosity Lexicography and Fieldwork in Post-Medieval Europe by Considine, John, 9780198785019
Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
  • ISBN: 9780198785019 | 0198785011
  • Cover: Hardcover
  • Copyright: 3/5/2017

  • Rent

    (Recommended)

    $103.00
     
    Term
    Due
    Price
    *This item is part of an exclusive publisher rental program and requires an additional convenience fee. This fee will be reflected in the shopping cart.
  • Buy New

    Usually Ships in 3-5 Business Days

    $131.33
  • eBook

    eTextBook from VitalSource Icon

    Available Instantly

    Online: 180 Days

    Downloadable: 180 Days

    $68.74

Small Dictionaries and Curiosity tells a story which has not been told before, that of the first European wordlists of minority and unofficial languages and dialects, from the end of the Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century. These wordlists were collected by people who were curious about the unrecorded or little-known languages they heard around them. Between them, they document more than 40 language varieties, from a Basque-Icelandic pidgin of the North Atlantic to the Kalmyk language of the lower Volga.

The book gives an account of about 90 of these dictionaries and wordlists, some of them single-page jottings and some of them full-sized printed books, paying attention to their content and their physical form alike. It explores the kinds of curiosity and imagination by which their makers were moved: the lover of all languages hearing new voices in an inn; the speaker of a dying language recording his linguistic memories; the patriot deploying his lexicographical findings in the service of an emerging nation. It offers an encounter with the diverse voices of the entirety of post-medieval Europe, turning away from the people of the courts and universities whose language was documented in big dictionaries to listen to people who did not speak the languages of power: the people of remote places and dying communities; the illiterate poor, settled or homeless; migrants from the edges of Europe and beyond.
Loading Icon

Please wait while the item is added to your bag...
Continue Shopping Button
Checkout Button
Loading Icon
Continue Shopping Button