Who compiled the first dictionary of the English Language?

Who compiled the first dictionary of the English Language?

• A. Noah Webster
• B. James Murray
• C. Samuel Johnson
• D. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Answer: (C)

The question tests knowledge of who created the first comprehensive English dictionary that shaped how the language is documented. Samuel Johnson authored A Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, which defined thousands of words and included illustrative quotations to show usage. This work established a standard reference that influenced English lexicography for generations, making Johnson the earliest major compiler of an English dictionary. Earlier glossaries existed, but Johnson’s dictionary was the first to be widely adopted and used as a standard authority. The other figures did important things—Noah Webster compiled an American dictionary later, James Murray edited the Oxford English Dictionary decades after, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was renowned as a poet—not a lexicographer.

The question tests knowledge of who created the first comprehensive English dictionary that shaped how the language is documented. Samuel Johnson authored A Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, which defined thousands of words and included illustrative quotations to show usage. This work established a standard reference that influenced English lexicography for generations, making Johnson the earliest major compiler of an English dictionary. Earlier glossaries existed, but Johnson’s dictionary was the first to be widely adopted and used as a standard authority. The other figures did important things—Noah Webster compiled an American dictionary later, James Murray edited the Oxford English Dictionary decades after, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was renowned as a poet—not a lexicographer.