~ E ~
E, Has two sounds; long, as scêne, and short, as men. E is the most frequent vowel in the English language; for it not only is used like the rest in the beginning or end of words, but has the peculiar quality of lengthening the foregoing vowel, as căn, cāne; măn, māne; găp, gāpe; glăd, glāde; brĕd, brēde; chĭn, chīne; whĭp, wīpe; thĭn, thīne; nŏd, nōde; tŭn, tūne; plŭm, plūme. Yet it sometimes occurs final, where yet the foregoing vowel is not lengthened; as gŏne, knowlĕdge, gĭve. Anciently almost every word ended with e; as for can, canne; for year, yeare; for great, greate; for need, neede; for flock, flocke. It is probable that this e final had at first a soft sound, like the female e of the French; and that afterwards it was in poetry either mute or vocal, as the verse required, 'till at last it became universally silent.
Ea has the sound of e long: the e is commonly lengthened rather by the immediate addition of a than by the apposition of e to the end of the word; as mĕn, mēan; fĕll, fēal; mĕt, mēat; nĕt, nēat.
Wonderful, keep up the good work!
Can I help?
Proofreading is a big help. If you notice a transcription error, please contact me.
If time permits, can the words regulate, rule and commerce be added soon? It would be most helpful. Those that discuss the Constitution often reference Johnsons. Thank you.
They have been added:
Regulate
Rule (noun)
Rule (verb active)
Rule (verb neuter)
Commerce (noun)
Commerce (verb)
I am researching the life of George Ord (1781-1886) of Philadelphia, who is said to have contributed many entries to Johnson’s expanded dictionary (as well as Noah Webster’s first dictionary).
How may I find out which and how many entries he provided to Johnson’s dictionary.
Thanks in advance for any help you might provide.
Al,
Johnson died in 1784, when Ord was only 3 years old. Any entries linked to Ord which appeared in “Johnson” dictionaries would have been added by later lexicographers (many of whom linked the title of their dictionary to Johnson merely for marketing purposes). I focus on the original dictionary Johnson produced, so I do not know much about post-Johnson additions.
I was going to suggest looking at the online OED, but I tried searching for George Ord there myself and was unable to find any contributions or sources linked to Ord.
Sorry that I’m unable to provide any further assistance.
Would you be able to transcribe “Indubitable”?
There is a transcription error in the second sentence under the letter “h”. It should read: ‘the h in English is scarcely “ever” mute’; not “every”
Thanks.
Thanks for catching that. It has been fixed both on the “H” entry page and on the alphabet page.
trouble is it takes half an hour to find a word if not yet transcribed, since if you want ‘time’ you go to ‘T’ and then have to turn some 50 pages, one at a time, to get to to ‘time’. Why not allow one to select a page by number?
Mark,
go to “Page View.” Under the title “Page View” and above the image and page number are two drop-down boxes – “Select Section” and “Select Page”. If you wanted to find “time,” for instance, you would select “T” from the first box. This causes the “Select Page” box to be filled in with the pages from the “T” section, enabling you to select “Tillyfally – Time.” Press the “Go” button and that page is loaded.
Do you have a definition of “arms” as in weaponry? This also is significant in interpreting the constitution.
Here it is, newly transcribed from page 159: Arms
I wonder is there was a definition for ‘people’ as in The People…did Johnson define that?
The first of the five definitions under “People (noun)” is “A nation; these who compose a community,” which includes an illustrative quotation from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: “What is the city but the people? / True the people are the city.” The entry can be found here.
Hi, I was searching for one of the most used words in the 18th century: Nature, but it isn’t here. Can it be added?
I’ve added “Nature”: http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=15301