Lexicography is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries. The history of English lexicography dates back to Old English times with religious books and Latin-English translations. The first unilingual English dictionary was published in 1604 explaining difficult words, while the first etymological dictionary explaining word origins was published in 1721. In 1775, Samuel Johnson published a famous explanatory dictionary, and in 1858 Dr. Trench raised the idea of an comprehensive dictionary of all English words. Over a thousand people contributed to the New English Dictionary published from 1884 to 1928 over 70 years in 12 volumes, which was later republished as the Oxford English Dictionary in 13 volumes.

1. ENGLISH
LEXICOGRAPHY
The theory and practice of compiling
dictionaries is called lexicography.

2. The history of English lexicography
• The history of compiling dictionaries for
English comes as far back as the Old English
period.
• religious books
• interlinear translations from Latin into English

3. The first unilingual dictionaries
• The first unilingual dictionary explaining
difficult words appeared in 1604, the author
was Robert Cawdry, a schoolmaster.
• In 1721 an English scientist and writer Nathan
Bailey published the first etymological
dictionary which explained the origin of
English words.

4. S. Johnson and Dr. Trench
• In 1775 an English scientist compiled a famous
explanatory dictionary. Its author was Samuel
Johnson.
• In 1858 one of the members of the English
philological society Dr. Trench raised the
question of compiling a dictionary including
all the words existing in the language.

5. NED
• More than a thousand people took part in
collecting examples. In in 1884 the first
volume was published.
• The last volume was published in 1928 that is
70 years after the decision to compile it was
adopted.
• The dictionary was called NED and contained
12 volumes.

6. The OED
• In 1933 the dictionary was republished under
the title «The Oxford English Dictionary». This
dictionary contained 13 volumes.
• «A Shorter Oxford Dictionary»
• «A Concise Oxford Dictionary»