Monique C. Cormier’s research while affiliated with Université de Montréal and other places

The major bilingual opus by lexicographer Abel Boyer, the Royal Dictionary. In Two Parts. First, French and English. Secondly, English and French, became an immediate success at the beginning of the eighteenth century and remained in use until the end of the nineteenth century. This remarkable lifespan, however, was naturally punctuated by highs and lows, with the latter often taking the form of acrimonious criticism. There were two main ways to remedy shortcomings in a dictionary. The first was to improve the existing work in a new edition. The second, more radical, way was to publish a rival dictionary that was completely independent of the one criticized. Boyer’s dictionary was well served by the first method. Over the years, in a world where piracy was current practice, some people appear to have been serious about improving the original material; this was the case for David Durand, among others. But Boyer’s dictionary also faced competition from ‘new’ dictionaries such as the one published by Lewis Chambaud in 1761. What do we know about this author and the circumstances of his publication of A Dictionary, French and English? The research for this article throws some light on bilingual lexicography between 1729, the year Abel Boyer died, and 1776, the year of Lewis Chambaud’s death. ‘Bonaparte n’étudiait pas beaucoup; il lisait avec attention tous les journaux qu’on lui apportait. Mais on le voyait pendant des heures entières occupé à parcourir page par page le Dictionnaire de Chambaud¹.’ (Monkhouse 1822: 357)

Captain John Stevens (circa 1662–1726) began his career as a translator and lexicographer in the late seventeenth century in London. He became an important figure in the history of translation into English of Spanish books on such subjects as history, travel, and geography. He also compiled an important Spanish and English dictionary, printed twice in the eighteenth century (1706, 1726). However important Stevens' works as translator and lexicographer are, he remains a rather unknown and forgotten figure. In this paper, we provide an overview of Stevens' life and work as a translator and investigate the principles that governed his professional life.

When Abel Boyer published his Royal Dictionary. In Two Parts. First, French and English. Secondly, English and French in 1699, labelling practices in dictionaries were not yet widespread and, when labels were used, they were not standardized. A review of 17th-century bilingual French-English dictionaries reveals an embryonic practice. Abel Boyer, however, introduced a set of usage labels in his dictionary that appear to be new and relatively well-organized for the time. In his dictionary, Boyer used four types of labels: typographical symbols, abbreviations, a combination of an abbreviation and a typographical symbol, and explicit textual annotations. The typographical symbols and abbreviations used are the same for both the French-English part and the English-French part. Only the textual annotations vary depending on the language. Boyers labelling system included subject-field labels, stylistic labels, temporal labels, sociolinguistic labels and connotative labels. Was Boyers labelling system truly innovative How did Boyer structure his system What method did he employ in his dictionary to show how readers should use words For what parts of speech did he provide usage labels Did he treat both parts of his dictionary in the same way These are the questions that this paper attempts to answer.

Praised by Franz J. Hausmann as the best description of the English language at the end of the 17th century, Abel Boyer's Royal Dictionary. In Two Parts. First, French and English. Secondly, English and French (1699) is one the most important dictionaries of all time. It was published 11 years after Guy Miège's Great French Dictionary. In Two Parts. The First, French and English; The Second, English and French (1688), and both works dominated bilingual English-French lexicography in the 17th and 18th centuries. Influential as they were, however, these works remain largely unexplored. Two previous articles (Cormier 2003 and 2005) examined the influence of the Dictionnaire de l’Académie Françoise on the French-English part of Abel Boyer's Royal Dictionary. The current study investigates whether or not the English-French part of Boyer's dictionary was inspired by the Great French Dictionary by Guy Miège. This is a relevant subject given the accusations of plagiarism against Boyer found in an anonymous text attributed to Miège and the fact that, in the front matter of the Royal Dictionary, Boyer made no explicit mention of Miège as a source for the English-French part: he instead rather harshly criticized Miège. Did Boyer really base the English-French part of his work on Miège's Great French Dictionary of 1688? If this question can be answered affirmatively, what is the extent of that influence? Did Boyer depend upon Miège for the nomenclature, the microstructure, or both? These are the questions this article will endeavour to answer.