At the same time, we must not
forget to note two Dictionaries of a much earlier date, which are of
high value. The former of these is the _Promptorium Parvulorum_,
completed in 1440, published by the Camden Society in 1865; which
contains a rather large proportion of East Anglian words. The second
is the _Catholicon Anglicum_, dated 1483, ed. S.J. Herrtage, E.E.T.S.,
1881, which is distinctly Northern (possibly of Yorkshire origin).
We find in Skinner occasional mention of Lincolnshire words, with
which he was evidently familiar. Examples are: _boggle-boe_,
a spectre; _bratt_, an apron; _buffet-stool_, a hassock; _bulkar_,
explained by Peacock as "a wooden hutch in a workshop or a ship."
The study of modern English Dialects began with the year 1674, when
the celebrated John Ray, Fellow of the Royal Society, botanist,
zoologist, and collector of local words and proverbs, issued his
_Collection of English Words not generally used_; of which a second
edition appeared in 1691. See my reprint of these; E.D.S., 1874. This
was the first general collection, and one of the best; and after this
date (1674) many dialect words appeared in English Dictionaries, such
as those of Elisha Coles (1676, and four subsequent editions); John
Kersey (1708, etc.
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