ENGL 4360/5360
Resources for Research on Words

A major linguistic bibliographic annual--the Biobliographie linguistique de l'annee--is, for some of its volumes at least, available on-line at http://www.kb.nl/kb/blonline/ as a service of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands). I have found the KB's server unreliable, however, so knowing about this resource may or may not be of help. Torreyson Library has 1993-1999 volumes of Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA); it is located on the index table directly in front of the microforms room, first floor. Other obvious bibliographical references include (as some of you noted in class) the MLA International Bibliography. You might also want to try some of the more general indexes such as Humanities Index and Social Sciences Index. Don't forget that a word study is not a purely linguistic study (myth, folklore, philosophy, theology, and many other fields may contribute).

The following (sorted by author and/or title) do not begin to exhaust the possibilities for other sorts of resources. I have indicated Torreyson Library call numbers (but not necessarily distinguished reference/main collection) in a few instances.

The American Heritage Dictionary

Bosworth and Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary [PE279 .B5]

Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language (CDC) [PE1625 .C4 1914 ]

Craigie, et al., A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue [PE2116 .C7 1980; incomplete set]

A Dictionary of American English (DAE) (A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles) (DAE) [PE2835 .C7]

A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles (DA) [UCA has a derivative work, Americanisms; A Dictionary of Selected Americanisms on Historical Principles (PE2835 .D523)]

The English Dialect Dictionary (EDD)

Evans and Evans, A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage [PE2835 .E84]

Krapp, The English Language in America [PE2808 .K7]

Kurath and Kuhn, Middle English Dictionary [PE679 .M54 1952]

Marckwardt, American English [PE2808 .M3 1980]

Mencken, The American Language [see PE2808 .M4]

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Supplements (OEDs)

Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (SJ) (1755) [Ref. PE1628 .J6 1967]

Skeat, Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (EDEL) [UCA has a derivative work, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (PE1580 .S52 1901)]

Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms (WDS)

Webster's Third New International Dictionary (WT) and Webster's New International Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (Ws). If available, the first Webster's edition, 1828, is worth looking at.