Tra lingua e cultura, tra parola e ideologia
nella tradizione lessicografica inglese
Giovanni Iamartino
(Università di Milano)
Dictionaries only succeed because of an
act of faith on the part of their users, and
that act of faith is dependent on those
users believing their dictionaries both
authoritative and beyond subjectivity.
Rosamund Moon
Articolazione del discorso:
1) il lessicografo
2) la lessicografia inglese
3) la lessicografia anglo-italiana
4) prospettive del presente
Lexicographer:
A writer of dictionaries; a
harmless drudge, that busies
himself in tracing the original, and
detailing the signification of
words. ...
S.Johnson
CODICE
LINGUISTICO
LESSICOGRAFO
DIZIONARIO
REALTA’
EXTRALINGUISTICA
UTENTE
Richard Cawdrey
A Table Alphabeticall (1604)
Obdurate
Obeisance
Object
Oblation
Oblectation
Obliged
Oblique
Oblivious
NON
Oak-tree
Oats
Obey
Oxford English Dictionary
- Richard C. Trench (1857): “He is a
historian of it, not a critic”
- 125 fascicoli dal 1884 al 1932
- James Murray (1837-1915)
- 4 supplementi negli anni ’70-’80
- 2nd edn. 1989
- 3rd edn. 2015?
Lord Chesterfield, The World, n.101
I give my vote for Mr Johnson to fill that
great and arduous post. And I hereby
declare, I make a total surrender of all
my rights and privileges in the English
language, as a freeborn British subject,
to the said Mr Johnson, during the term
of his dictatorship.
dal Dictionary:
To BANG: ... To beat; to thump; to cudgel: a low and
familiar word. ...
BLACK-GUARD: ... A cant word amongst the vulgar; by which
is implied a dirty fellow; of the meanest kind.
To CON: ... To study; to commit to memory; to fix in the mind.
It is a word now little in use, except in ludicrous language.
To DOFF: ... This word is in all its senses obsolete, and
scarcely used except by rusticks.
IMMATERIAL: ...1. Incorporeal; distinct from matter; void of
matter. 2. Unimportant; without weight;
impertinent; without relation. This sense has
crept into the conversation and writings of
barbarians; but ought utterly to be rejected.
dal Dictionary:
JOB: ... A low word now much in use, of which I cannot tell
the etymology. ...
PAT: ... Fit, convenient; exactly suitable either as to time or
place. This is a low word, and should not be used but
in burlesque writings. ...
SHABBY: ... A word that has crept into conversation and low
writing; but ought not to be admitted into the language.
SLIM: ... A cant word as it seems, and therefore not to be used.
SPICK AND SPAN: This word I should not have expected to
have found authorised by a polite writer... it
is however a low word. ...
STARK: ... It is now little used but in low language.
TRAIT: ... A stroke; a touch. Scarce English.
dal Dictionary:
COMPLIMENT: ... An act, or expression of civility, usually
understood to include some hypocrisy, and
to mean less that it declares.
EXCISE: ... A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
adjudged not by the common judges of property,
but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
OATS: A grain, which in England is generally given to
horses, but in Scotland supports the people. ...
PATRON: ... One who countenances, supports or protects.
Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence,
and is paid with flattery.
PENSION: ... An allowance made to any one without an
equivalent. In England it is generally understood to
mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his
country. ...
PENSIONER: ... 2. A slave of state hired by a stipend to
obey his master. ...
Esordi della lessicografia anglo-italiana
 William Thomas (1550)
 John Florio (1558) (1611)
 Giovanni Torriano (1659)
 Ferdinando Altieri (1726-27; 1750)
 Giuseppe Baretti (1760)
Da Altieri a Baretti:
A>B= RABBLE: ... la canaglia, il popolaccio, la plebe, la feccia
del popolo, che tumultua e fa fracasso.
B= To CABBAGE: ... rubare i ritagli del panno, come fanno i
garzoni de’ sartori che con facezia degna
d’essi dicono che il denaro ricavato da que’
rubati ritagli serve loro per comprare i cavoli
da mangiare col loro bue salato. Arbuthnot.
B= TRADESFOLK: gente data al mercanteggiare; gente vile,
canaglia sciocca al vil guadagno intenta.
A>B= PETTIFOGGER: un avvocato o procuratore ignorante, un
procuratorello, un beccalite, uno storcileggi,
dottoretto di grande audacia, di poco sapere, e di
molta voglia di rubare a’ clienti. (ed. Venezia 1795: ...
mozzorecchi, dottoricchio,...)
B= Widowhunter: uno che amoreggia vedove per la dote, un Irlandese.
Da Altieri a Baretti (via Johnson):
J= TORY: One who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state, and the
apostolical hierarchy of the church of England: opposed to a whig.
B= TORY: colui che in Inghilterra aderisce o pretende aderire alle antiche
leggi e all’apostolica Gerarchia della chiesa Anglicana. Il suo
opposto chiamasi Whig.
J= WHIG: The name of a faction
B= WHIG: setta di Politici in Inghilterra, i di cui principj sono dannati da i tory
loro nemici che li dipingono come gente per lo più di mala morale,
di nulla religione, e d’inclinazioni repubblichesche.
A>B= QUAKERS: setta di pazzi in Inghilterra, così detti per li strani gesti che fanno
tremando.
A= PAPIST: ... papista, cattolico romano.
B= PAPIST: ... papista nome di dispregio dato a un cattolico romano.
A= POPERY: ... il papismo.
B= POPERY: papismo. Gl’Inglesi Protestanti per derisione chiamano Papismo la
religione Cattolica Romana, per rifarsi di quell’Eretico che noi diam loro
tanto continuamente pel capo. Carità cristiana da ambidue i lati.
La sanzione ideologico-culturale
del lessicografo
 l’esclusione dal lemmario
 le parole marchiate:
a) tabù sessuali
b) tabù religiosi
c) tabù politici
d) tabù etnici
e) tabù sessisti
L’esclusione dal lemmario:
 F. Grose, Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
(1796):
C**T: a nasty name for a nasty thing
 E. Partridge, Slang Yesterday and Today (1937):
My rule, in the matter of unpleasant terms, has been
to deal with them as briefly, as astringently, as
aseptically as was consistent with clarity and
adequacy; in a few instances, I had to force myself to
overcome an instinctive repugnance.
Tabù sessuali (1)
 Cambridge Int Dict of Eng 1995: FUCK: [EXTREME ANGER]
exclamation taboo used when expressing extreme anger or
annoyance to add force to what is being said
 Collins Cobuild Eng Dict Adv Lear 2001: FUCK [ Fuck is a
rude and offensive word which you should avoid using] 1 Fuck
is used to express anger or annoyance. VERY RUDE
 Macmillan 2002: FUCK: offensive. An extremely offensive
expression that means… / used for…
 Longman Dict.Cont.Engl. 2003: FUCK: taboo spoken used to
show that you are very angry at something or someone, or that
you do not care about them at all
Tabù politici
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English
(3rd edn. 1974) (Russian edition)
 CAPITALISM:
a) economic system in which a country’s trade and industry are organized and controlled by
the owners of capital, the chief elements being competition, profit, supply and demand.
b) an economic and social system based on private ownership of the means of production
operated for private profit and on the exploitation of man by man.
 COMMUNISM:
a) ideology that proclaims the abolition of class oppression and exploitation, and the foundation
of a society based on the common possession of the means of production and the equal
distribution of goods.
b) a theory revealing the historical necessity for the revolutionary replacement of capitalism by
Communism.
 IMPERIALISM:
a) belief in the value of colonies; policies of extending a country’s empire and influence.
b) the highest and last stage of capitalism.
 INTERNATIONALISM:
a) the doctrine that the common interests of nations are greater and more important than their
differences.
b) the solidarity of the working people of different countries in their struggle with capitalism.
Tabù etnici
Nigger > Black > Coloured > Negro > Black >
Afro-american > African-american > Member
of the African Diaspora
 Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911)
SUBJECT: … The Indians are our subjects
 Collins CED 1995: … his subjects regarded
him as a great and wise monarch
 LDCE 1995: … a British subject
Tabù sessisti (1)
LDCE 1995:
 BUZZ: … She buzzed for her secretary
 BATH: … He’s bathing the baby
 (?) To PAT: … He patted his hair into place
The Thorndike Barnhart Beginning Dictionary (1968)
 The Scott Foresman Beginning Dictionary (1983) :
CHECK: When we finished eating, Father asked the
waitress for the check.  After we finished
eating, the waiter brought the check to our table.
CHERISH: A mother cherishes her baby  Parents cherish
their children.
SEIZE: In fright she seized his arm. 
In fright I seized her arm.
Altre componenti ideologiche nel dizionario
 frontespizio
 pagina
 sequenza delle voci
 etimologia
 definizioni
 etichette e note d’uso
 esempi
Johnson’s Dictionary, Preface:
… to pursue perfection was, like the first
inhabitants of Arcadia, to chace the sun,
which, when they had reached the hill
where he seemed to rest, was still beheld
at the same distance from him
Johnson’s letter to F. Sastres, 1784:
Dictionaries are like watches,
the worst is better than none,
and the best cannot be expected
to go quite true.
Qualche riferimento bibliografico










Beaujot, J-P., “Dictionnaire et idéologie”, in Hausmann, F.J. et al., Wörterbücher Dictionaries - Dictionnaires, 3 voll., de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 1989-1991, vol.1, pp.7988.
Julio Casares, Introduccion a la lexicografia moderna, s.e., Madrid 1969 (1a ed. 1950)
Delbridge, A. & P.H. Peters, “Dictator, Gatekeeper, Tally Clerk Or Harmless Drudge?”, in
T.L. Burton & J. Burton, eds., Lexicographical and Linguistic Studies. Essays in Honour
of G.W.Turner, Brewer, Cambridge 1988, pp.33-41.
D’Oria, D., Dictionnaire et ideologie, Schena-Nizet, Fasano(BA)-Paris 1988.
Hartmann, R.R.K. ed., LEXeter ’83 Proceedings. Papers from the International
Conference on Lexicography at Exeter, 9-12 September 1983, Niemeyer, Tübingen
1984.
Iamartino, G., Da Thomas a Baretti: i primi due secoli della lessicografia angloitaliana,
Pubblicazioni dell’I.S.U. Università Cattolica, Milano 1994.
Landau, S.I., The expression of changing social values in dictionaries, “Dictionaries”, 5,
1985, pp.261-269.
Moon, R., Objective or Objectionable: Ideological Aspects of Dictionaries, “English
Language Research Journal (University of Birmingham)”, 3, 1989, p.59 ss.
Sacerdoti Mariani, G., “Word-malformations and the authoritarian attitude towards
language usage”, in R.Bacchielli, ed., Historical English Word-formation. Papers read at
the Sixth National Conference of the History of English (Urbino, 24-25 September 1993),
Quattroventi, Urbino 1994, pp.153-163.
Wells, R.A., Dictionaries and the Authoritarian Tradition. A Study in English Usage and
Lexicography, Mouton, The Hague-Paris 1973.