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First dictionary in the entire world? Dunno. First English dictionary? Here's what we found: Originally, we tried searching the Web using the phrase "first dictionary." The results were less than useful. We tried alternatives like "earliest dictionary" and "history of the dictionary," but unfortunately they didn't provide much more to go on. Changing tactics, we switched to the more specific "first English dictionary" and got some better leads. First stop, Early Modern English (1500-1800), a page from a course taught at Creighton University. There we found a listing that put Robert Cawdrey's A Table Alphabeticall as the first English dictionary, written in 1604. A dutiful
crosscheck of the name "Robert Cawdrey" confirmed that he authored a reference work in the early 17th century. In fact, a little more digging turned up an online copy of the text of A Table Alphabeticall at the University of Toronto, as well as a very useful introductory essay on the lexicographer's life and work. From that essay we learn that Cawdrey's book "is generally regarded to be the first fully developed representative of the monolingual dictionary in English." Strong words, but still we needed more. That's when we came up with the idea of looking up the word "dictionary" in the dictionary. Sure enough, when we entered the term into the search box of InfoPlease.com,
we were greeted with a very detailed essay on the history of dictionaries. Unfortunately, Robert Cawdrey isn't specifically mentioned, so the picture became cloudier rather than clearer. On the upside, there is nothing in the text that disputes the authorship of A Table Alphabeticall or its place as the earliest example of a modern English dictionary.
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