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Nathan Bailey NATHAN BAILEY It would seem that we really have no clue as yet, as to when or where Nathaniel Bailey had been born! “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY 1691 Nathaniel Bailey was accepted as a Seventh Day Baptist. NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT Nathan Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY 1721 Nathan Bailey’s AN UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY, the 2d to be written by a professional lexicographer (John Kersey the Younger’s A NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY of 1702 having been the 1st). In a later edition, this dictionary would begin to provide some indication of the proper pronunciation of the terms defined. Some of the definitions provided might not be considered by today’s standards to be adequate, while others might be considered to be overly inventive. • cucumber “a well-known fruit” • dog “a well-known creature, also an Andiron” • horse “a beast well-known” • lady “a Person of Quality’s Wife or Daughter” • Spontaneous Action [with Philosophers and Physicians] “an Action that does not depend on the Will, as the Beating of the Pulse, the Circulation of the Blood, &c.” • Back-staff, or Back quadrant [in Navigation] “an Instrument by the French, called the English Quadrant, invented by Captain Davis: Being the simplest and exactest Instrument hitherto invented for taking the Sun’s Zenith Distance at Sea, by the Help of which the Latitude is presently known. It consists of two Arches, the Arch x of the least Radius contains 60 degrees, and that of y having the largest Radius contains three Degrees. It has also three Vanes; the Vane at h is called the Horizon Vane, that at S the Shadow Vane, and the Vane at E is called the Sight Vane. • Cai´sson [Gunnery] “a wooden chest, containing 4 or 6 Bombs; or filled only with Powder, which the Besieged bury under Ground, in order to blow up a Work that the Besiegers are like to be Masters of. Thus after the Bonnet has been blown up by the Mine, they lodge a caisson under the Ruins of it, and when the Enemy has made a Lodgement there, they fire the caisson by the help of a saucis, and blow up that Post a second time. •Dark Cully “a married Man, who keeps a Mistress, and steals to her by Night-time, for Fear of a discovery.” • Envy [Hieroglyphically] “an envious person was represented by the water-serpent Hydra, because of its proceeding from corruption and mud; intimating, that persons that entertain this ungrateful passion in their breasts, are of such sordid disposition, that they seem to be made up of mud and baseness.” • Fairy Circle, or Fairy Ring “an appearance pretty frequently seen in the fields, &c. being a kind of round, supposed by the vulgar to be traced by fairies in their dances. There are 2 sorts of these rings or circles; one of them is about 7 or 8 yards in diameter, being a round bare path about a foot in breadth, having green grass in the middle; the other is of different sizes, being encompassed with a circumference of grass, much fresher and greener than that in the middle.The philosophers supposed these rings to be made by lightening, and this opinion seems to be confirmed, in that they are most frequently found after storms, and the colour and brittleness of the grassy roots is a further confirmation. The second kind of circle they suppose to arise originally from the first, HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY in that the grass that had been burnt up by lightening, usually grows more plentifully afterwards; some authors say, that these fairy rings are formed by ants; these insects being sometimes found travelling in troups therein.” • Gala´xy [γαλαηiαβ (Gr.)] “that long, white, luminous Tract which seems to encompass the Heavens like a Swathe or Girdle, and which is perceivable in a clear Night, especially when the moon does not appear. • Hermetical Philosophy “that which pretends to solve and explain all the phænomena of Nature, from three Chymical Principles, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.” • I´mages [in Discourse] “any Thoughts proper to produce Expressions and which present a kind of Picture to the Mind; or, in a more limited Sense, such Discourses as some Persons, when by a kind of Enthusiasm or extraordinary Emotion of the Soul, they seem to see Things whereof they speak.” • Kyphonism [of κyζονι (Greek) a piece of wood whereon criminals were stretch’d and tormented] “it was thus, the body of the person to be tormented was anointed with honey, and exposed to the sun, in order to attract the flies and wasps, it was for a certain number of days, and some authors say, sometimes for twenty. Sometimes the person was stretched on the ground, with his arms ty’d behind him; sometimes only ty’d to a stake; sometimes hung up in the air in a basket. This punishment has been frequently inflicted on the martyrs in the primitive times.” • Magical Lanthorn [in Opticks] “an instrument that by means whereof, little painted images are represented on an opposite wall of a dark room, magnified to any bigness at pleasure.” • Meekness [in Painting and Sculpture] “represented by a beautiful damsel crowned with olive, leaning with her right hand upon an elephant.” • Nudi´ties [in Painting and Sculpture] “used to signify those parts of a human figure, not covered with any drapery, or those parts where the carnations appear.” • Ork [ourque (French) the first, orca (Italian), hourque (French), the second] “a monstrous fish usually called a whirlpool; also a kind of hulk or large sea vessel; also a but for wine or figs.” • To Pig “to bring forth Pigs; also [with the Vulgar] to lie together.” • Rackoo´n “a New England animal something like a badger, having a tail like a fox, being cloathed with a thick and deep furr. It sleeps in the day-time in a hollow tree, and goes out a-nights, when the moon shines, to feed on the sea-side, where it is hunted by dogs.” • Seam of Corn [seam (Saxon)] “8 bushels.” • A Train [in Watch-work] “the number of beats which a watch makes in an hour.” • Unle´ttered [of un (L.) and Litera (L.)] “illiterate, not having letters on the back as books.” • To give one the Wall “a compliment paid to the female sex, or those to whom one would show respect, by letting them go nearest the wall or houses, upon a supposition of its being the HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY cleanest. This custom is chiefly peculiar to England, for in most parts abroad they will give them the right hand, tho’ at the same time they thrust them into the kennel.” • Xochaitototle “a bird in America like a sparrow, having feathers of several colours, called the Hang-nest.” • Yoke-Fellow “one engaged or tied to another, in the same band of union or fellowship; a husband or wife.” • Ze´bra “an Indian beast like a mule.” We do not know which of the almost 30 editions of this dictionary was available to Henry Thoreau in his room under the roof of the family boardinghouse. Here for purposes of illustration, merely because it is what has just recently been made available to us by Google Books, is the 24th edition. BAILEY’S ENGLISH LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY 1730 Nathan Bailey’s DICTIONARIUM BRITANNICUM: OR A MORE COMPLETE UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL ENGLISH DICTIONARY THAN ANY EXTANT. THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Nathan Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY 1742 June 27, Sunday (Old Style): Nathaniel Bailey died at Stepney near London (where he had his school). HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY 1755 Samuel Johnson received an honorary degree, a MA, from Oxford University. His new degree would appear on the title page of his A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, published during this year. He posted his famous letter to Lord Chesterfield. The notice you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent and cannot enjoy it, till I am solitary and cannot impart it, till I am known and do not want it. HDT WHAT? INDEX NATHAN BAILEY NATHAN BAILEY Dr. Johnson defined a cod as “any case or husk in which seeds are lodged” on the basis of the Middle English etymology in which a cod is a sack or pouch. cod Pronunciation: ’k‰d Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural cod also cods Etymology: Middle English Date: 14th century 1 : any of various bottom-dwelling fishes (family Gadidae, the cod family) that usually occur in cold marine waters and often have barbels and three dorsal fins: as a : one (Gadus morhua) of the No. Atlantic that is an important food fish b : one (Gadus macrocephalus) of the Pacific Ocean 2 : any of various bony fishes resembling the true cods Words are the daughters of earth, and things are the sons of heaven. — Samuel Johnson (paraphrasing Samuel Madden), A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 1755, as quoted on page 8 of William Least Heat-Moon’s PrairyErth (a deep map) [Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991].
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