Editorial

As this is my last issue as editor of Dictionaries, it seems appropriate to reinstate the tradition of an Editorial. Looking back over the last four years, I feel very fortunate to have been able to publish such a diverse range of articles. Dictionaries has always been a platform for the history of lexicography. Michael Hancher’s fascinating piece on “Illustrating Webster”, the first article in our 2010 issue, has been followed by articles on Elisha Coles (2010), and this year a Forum on using evidence in the Oxford English Dictionary. Most excitingly, Susan Rennie generously contributed her first account of the rediscovery of James Boswell’s long-lost Scottish Dictionary (2011), with an update in the following year.

In the field of bilingual lexicography, we have had articles on Japanese, Russian, and Arabic dictionaries, as well as an account of a current project to compile a digital dictionary for Cayuga (Iroquoian). Regional English is also well covered, especially through up-to-date accounts of that remarkable project the Dictionary of North American English (DARE) by Joan Houston Hall (2010) and George Groebel (2012). The issue for 2012 included an article on the compilation of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English and an account of the project to revise The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles. An article in the current issue illuminates a previously overlooked area: the rhyming slang of Northern Ireland.

The section on Reference Works in Progress, fostered by the previous editor, has been a rich vein. As well as items mentioned above, we have had several accounts of dictionary-related projects. David Vancil contributed a stimulating piece on “Seven North American Dictionary Collections” (2011), and in 2012 Don McCreary gave a ten-year overview of Dawgspeak, the University of Georgia’s “Slanguage” dictionary. In the current issue we have contributions from Peter Gilliver on writing the history of OED and Beverley McCulloch on the experience of a dictionary archivist.

It is enormously pleasing that Dictionaries is now available online through Project Muse, and so increasingly available to a wider audience. This year, we are accordingly taking the first step to widen our Book Review section. “Towards a Framework for Evaluating Online Dictionaries” by Enid Pearsons and Wendalyn Nichols is the starting point, after which we will regularly review online as well as print resources.

Finally, I would like to say how much I have appreciated the chance to be editor of Dictionaries. It has been a great privilege to edit the Journal, and I am continuingly grateful for all the help and support I have received. Any issue is truly a collegial effort, but I would like to express particular thanks to Lisa Berglund, David Jost, Michael Hancher, Orin Hargraves, and Wendalyn Nichols, together with other members of DSNA’s publications committee. I am delighted now to hand over to the sure hands of the incoming editor, Edward Finegan. He, the Journal, and the Society, of course have my continuing friendship and goodwill.