John Minsheu
Encyclopedia
John Minsheu (1560–1627) was an English linguist
and lexicographer. He was born and died in London
. Little is known about his life. He published some of the earliest dictionaries and grammars of the Spanish language
for speakers of English. His major work was the Ductor in linguas (Guide into tongues), an eleven-language dictionary. With his Ductor in linguas he is also one of the first known inventors of the use of subscription as a method of funding publication of a book.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and lexicographer. He was born and died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Little is known about his life. He published some of the earliest dictionaries and grammars of the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for speakers of English. His major work was the Ductor in linguas (Guide into tongues), an eleven-language dictionary. With his Ductor in linguas he is also one of the first known inventors of the use of subscription as a method of funding publication of a book.
Works
- Joyful Newes out of the Newe Founde Worlde (1577)
- Spanish Grammar (1599)
- Dictionarie in Spanish and English (1599 & 1623), an augmented version of Bibliotheca Hispanica (1591) by Richard Percyvall (1993 reprint: ISBN 3-89131-066-8)
- Ductor in linguas (The Guide into Tongues) (1617)
- including Vocabularium Hispanicolatinum et Anglicum copiossissimum (A Most Copious Spanish Dictionarie with Latine and English)
- Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English (1623)
Sources
- Jürgen Schäfer, John Minsheu: Scholar or Charlatan?, in Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Spring, 1973), pp. 23-35.
- GIGA Quotes
- Some Notes on the Life and Work of John Minsheu (1560–1627)*, Vivian Salmon, London (PDF)