ABSTRACT
No profession contributed more to an understanding of the English language in the Early Modern English period than law. The notion and publication of a monolingual English dictionary began with a lawyer, John Rastell, in the early 1520s, long before it occurred to Robert Cawdrey to bring out his celebrated hard-word dictionary in 1604. Of the 43 known members of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries (circa 1572-1604; Schoeck 1954), 38 were lawyers. Of these, 15 contributed to lexicography in the period.1$QRWKHU¿YH QRQDQWLTXDULDQV ± -RKQ DQG:LOOLDP Rastell, John Cowell, Sir Thomas Blount and Thomas Manley – produced longODVWLQJYHU\VL]DEOHGLFWLRQDULHVRIODZWHUPVWKDWEXLOWRQEHIRUHRQO\D single, short and somewhat enigmatic glossary (Skemer 1998 and 1999). This chapter is an introduction to their work.
