Randle Cotgrave

Randle Cotgrave (* 16th century, † 1634) was a British linguist and lexicographer.

Life and work

Cotgrave studied at the University of Cambridge. He was secretary of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter ( 1566-1640, son of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, 1542-1623 ), to whom he dedicated his language history major French -English Dictionary of 1611. Since Cotgrave wanted to make accessible the French literature of the 16th century, his English users, he took on much lexical material that was lacking in the contemporary French dictionaries.

Works

• A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London in 1611, Columbia in 1950, 1968, 1968 Menston, Hildesheim 1970, Amsterdam 1971, London 1974, 2 vols, 2011 Geneva ( Foreword by Jean Pruvost; introduction by Susan Baddeley ); with: Robert Sherwood, A Dictionarie English and French, London 1632, 1650, 1660 and 1672 ( from 1650 with additions by James Howell )