Words by women, words on women in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language

The essay deals with the lexicographical treatment of women''s language and of words relating to women themselves in Samuel Johnson''s Dictionary of 1755. Women''s language (or at least language labelled as such by Johnson) turns out to be a marginal presence in the Dictionary, although a linguistically, culturally and ideologically interesting one. Words referring to women''s bodies, costume, station in life, relations to men etc. are quite numerous, and are duly separated into thematic groups and commented on in the essay. The delicate job of eliciting the gender-specific and sexual politics of Johnson''s Dictionary from the wording of definitions and the choice of literary quotations is complicated by the difficulty of distinguishing the lexicographer''s own attitudes from those of the speech community whose usage he reports. Thus, the essays is a useful contribution to both the history of English lexicography and the reconstruction of the ideological framework of 18th-c. Britain.