Christian Ludwig (1660–1728) and the beginnings of German/English lexicography

Figures & data

Table 1 The entries for spirit in the dictionaries of Boyer and in Ludwig’s A dictionary English, German, and French; the numbering of senses is my addition.

Boyer, The Royal Dictionary. In Two Parts (1699)   SPIRIT. Subst. [1] (a Substance distinct from Matter) Esprit, Substance immaterielle   God is a Spirit, Dieu est un Esprit.   [2] ☛ Spirit, (Virtue, or supernatural Power than animates the Soul) Esprit, Vertu, ou puissance surnaturelle, qui remue l’ame.   He is acted on by the Spirit of the Devil. C’est l’esprit du Demon qui agit en lui.   [3] ☛ Spirit (or Soul) L’Esprit, l’ame.   [4] ☛ Spirit (or Ghost of a dead Body) Esprit ou l’ame d’une Personne morte   [5] ☛Spirit, (a Term of Chymistry, the subtlest substance extracted from mixt Bodies) Esprit, Terme due Chymie   5. Spirit of Salt, Esprit de Sel   [6] ☛ Spirits, (in the Plural Number) Esprits   6. [6a] The Vital or Animal Spirits, Les Esprits vitaux, ou animaux   7. [6b] The Spirits of Wine, and other strong Liquors, Les Esprits du vin, & d’autres liequeurs fortes   [7] ☛ Spirit, (Genius, Humour, or Nature) Esprit, genie, Caractere, humeur   8. Ex. That’s the Spirit of their Society, C’est là l’esprit de leur Société.   9. ☛ To do a thing out of a Spirit (or Principle) of Chairty, Faire une chose un Esprti, ou par un principe, de Charité   [8] ☛ Spirit, (wit or liveliness) Esprit, feu, vivacité   [9] ☛ (Courage or Pride) Coeur, courage, fierté.   10. To pull down one’s Spirit, Abbatre la fierté de queuqu’un, l’humilier   11. To have a high, or great Spirit, Etre fier.   12. ☛ To put Spirit into one, Animer, encourager quelqu’un.   13. ☛ To recover one’s Spirits, (to come to one’s self again) Reprendre ses Esprits, se remettre, se reconnoitre, revenir à soi   14. [10] ☛ Spirit, V. Kidnapper [under KIDNAP we duly find: Kidnapper, S. Un Voleur d’Enfants, and, before that under To kidnap (V.A.) a Child, Enlever un Enfant pour l’envoyer aux Indes]

Boyer, The Royal Dictionary Abridged (1700)  Spírit, S. Esprit ☛ Spirit, (wit or liveliness) Esprit, feu, vivacité. ☛ (Courage or Pride) Coeur, courage, fierté

Ludwig, A dictionary English, German, and French (1706). [The French also found in Boyer is underlined; the numbering of senses corresponds to the senses in Boyer (1699) as I have numbered them]  Spírit, [1, 4,] ein geist; [2] die seele; das gemüthe; [3] ein gespenste; [6b] ein (distillirter) spiritus; [7] die natürliche zuneigung, die art, weise, ein principium, ursprung oder bewegende ursache; [8] die munterkeit, muthigkeit, lebhafftigkeit; [9] der muth, das hertz; ein hochmuth, trotz; [10] ein kinderräuber, kinderdieb, der kinder entführet, und nach America in die Englische plantationen zu sclaven verkauffet, esprit; Coeur; fierté; un voleur d’infans. To recover his spirits, wieder zu sich selbst kommen, reprendre ses esprits.

Fig. 1 A sample page (p.643) from Ludwig’s Dictionary English, German, and French.

Source: SLUB Dresden, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id366206370/187 (Public Domain Mark 1.0).

Table 2  Comparing selected entries in the dictionaries of Boyer and Ludwig.

Example	Boyer, The Royal Dictionary Abridged (1700)	Ludwig, A dictionary English, German, and French (1706)
1	Let, Adj. Loué, affermé &C. V. To let	Lét, A. vermietet, verpachtet &c. loüé, &C. S. To let.
2	Let, S. Obstacle, empêchement, retardement.	Lét S einen hindernüß, verhinderung, versaumnüß, obstacle, retardement
3	Letter, (Missive or epistle) Lettre, Epitre, Dépeche, † Missive^34 To write, seal and direct a Letter Ecrire, cacheter addresser une lettre	Létter, ein buchstabe, letter [sic, presumably an error for lettre]; ein brieff, schreiben [sic]
4	Boyer (1699) A letter-case, Un Porte-lettre	Ludwig (1706) letter-case ein briefffutter/ darein man seine brieffe & c. stecket, porte-lettre
5	Boyer (1699) A Let-in, (or Reference) Un Renvoy.	Ludwig (1706) A let-in ein merckzeichen im schreiben, wo etwas noch hinein kommen muß, un renvoi

Table 3  Sample entries from Ludwig (1706) illustrating congruence, convergence, divergence, or absence of an equivalent.

Example	Ludwig, A dictionary English, German, and French (1706)	absence OR extent of congruence OR divergence?
1	Lèek, lauch, porreau	congruence of lexemes across all three languages
2	‘Epitaph, eine grabschrifft, epitaphe	congruence of lexemes across all three languages
3	Léisure, die weile, musse, zeit, loisir (Ludwig 1706)	congruence of English and French, divergence in German
4	Eréct, recht, gerade in die höhe, aufgerichtet, droit, dressé.	congruence of English and French, divergence in German
5	Dástard, ein feiger, verzagter, weibischer kerl, poltron	congruence of English and French, absence of single-lexeme equivalent in German
6	‘Episod [sic], eine kleine historie in einem freudenspiele, episode.	congruence of English and French; absence of single-lexeme equivalent in German
7	Small, A. klein; gering; schlecht; dünne, nicht starck; wenig, petit.	congruence of English and French, divergence in German

Table 4  Boyer and Ludwig’s entries for lewd.

Boyer, Royal Dictionary (1699)	Ludwig, Dictionary English, German, and French (1706)
LEWD, Adj. (wicked, wanton, riotous) Dissolu, débauché, infame, libertin, perdue, abandonné, impudique A lewd life, une vie dissoluee, ou debauchee A lewd Discourse, Un Dicsours infame A lewd Man, Un Débauché, un Dissolu, un abandonné A lewd woman, Une Debauchée, une Abandonnée, une dissolue	Lèwd, leichtfertig, gottlos, lose, schändlich, unordentlich, unehrlich, unzüchtig, unverschämt, üppig Dissolu, débauché, infame

Table 5  LIGHT: French and German equivalents given by Boyer (1699) and Ludwig (1706).

English lemma	Senses, as disambiguated by Boyer (1699)	French lexeme equivalents given by Boyer (1699)	French equivalents given by Ludwig (1706)	German equivalents given by Ludwig (1706)
LIGHT A. [i.e. adjective]	[1] (the contrary of heavy)	leger	leger	leicht
				nicht schwer
	[2] (that is not full weight)	leger	[…]	[NONE SPECIFIED]
	[3] (or nimble)	leger	[…]	hurtig
		agile		behend
		dispos		fertig
	[4] small or trifling	leger	petit, frivole, mediocre	klein
		petit		liederlich
		frivole		gering
		mediocre		schlecht
				mittelmäßig
	[5] light or light-armed	leger	legerement armé	leichte (in rüstung oder waffen)
		legerement armé
	[6] inconstant	leger	inconstant	unbeständig
		inconstant		leichtsinnig
		volage
	[7] (or superficial) knowledge	legere	[…]	[NONE SPECIFIED]
		superficielle
	[8] (or bright)	clair	clair	lichte
		brillant		hell
		eclatant		klar
		lumineux		scheinend
	[9] (of a flaxen colour)	blond	blond	lichtfarbig
		clair		flachsfarbig

Fig. 2 A sample page of the Teutsch–Englisches Lexicon (cols. 1983–84).

Source: SLUB Dresden, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id365273635/1006 (Public Domain Mark 1.0).

Table 6  Selected entries from Ludwig’s Teutsch–Englisches Lexicon (1716).

Example	Dictionary entry
1	Marter (1. der), a marten or martern., s. marder. 2. Die marter, folter, qual oder peinigung, tomernt, tormenting, torture, pain.
2	Marck (1. das) in den beinen der menschen und thiere, the marrow within mens and animals [sic] bones […] 2. Das Marck, merck oder zeichen, a mark. […]. 3. Die marck, acht untzen, sechzehn loht, ein halb pfund, a mark a weight of eight ounces.
3	Leicht. 1. seyn, to be light, easy, facil or facile. […] 2. er geht leicht oder leichtlich zu werck, er überlegt die sachen nicht, he acts lightly, rashly, unadvisedly, unconsiderately [sic], foolishly, unwarily. […] 3. Die leichte oder leichtigkeit, the facility, lightness, easiness.
4	Mannsbild (das) 1. Die manns-person, a man a person of the masculine sex. 2. Ein bild eines mannes, a statue or figure of a man.

Table 7  Selected examples from the Teutsch–Englisches Lexicon entry under zwischen.

	German	English	Potential pitfall
1	Wie gehts? So zwischen beyden	how do you do? So so; indifferently; tolerably; passably	Idiom, cannot be translated literally
2	Zwischen thür und angel stecken	to be in the mouth of danger	Figurative usage, cannot be translated literally
3	Zwischen furcht und hoffnung	between hope and fear	Idiomatic order of nouns is reversed in English
4	Zwischen der abendmahlzeit	at supper-time	English requires a different preposition (two further similar examples)
5	Zwischen ihnen entsteht leicht ein widerspruch	them [sic!] two are apt to interfere with one another	Different syntactical structure preferred, specifically subjectivization of the prepositional object (three further examples where the same principle is applied)
6	Die liebe so zwischen ihnen ist	Their mutual, or reciprocal love; their love to one another; their loving one another mutually, or reciprocally; their reciprocation, or exchanging, of love	Variously: three different syntactical structures using either adjective, noun or adverb in lieu of preposition; or different preposition