A Christian Dictionarie, Opening the signification of the chiefe wordes dispersed generally through Holie Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, tending to increase Christian knowledge

Thomas Wilson

A Christian Dictionarie, Opening the signification of the chiefe wordes dispersed generally through Holie Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, tending to increase Christian knowledge

London

W. Iaggard

1612

The title page of the first ecclesiastical dictionary in English promises a dictionary “to increase Christian knowledge”: if the way to salvation is through the Bible, the way to the Bible might be through a dictionary.  Combining lexical information with explanations of biblical allusions, Wilson (like Cowell) has a much more bounteous style of defining than can be seen in Cawdrey’s exiguous entries. In enumerating senses, Wilson shows himself to be attuned to nuances in meaning.

Ex coll. Karolyne & Bryan A. Garner. HHD no. 10