A Contextual and Lexicographic Study of John Minsheu's English-Spanish Dictionary (1599)

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2017 in the subject Literature - Comparative Literature, grade: 8,5/10, , course: 4th, language: English, abstract: This project summarizes the evolution of English and Spanish bilingual and historical lexicography in the 16th-17th century. In due course, British Hispanists such as Richard Percyvall, John Thorius and John Minsheu, moved by the interest of expanding the importance of learning Spanish, compiled grammar textbooks, dictionaries and glossaries among other materials. The relevance of Spanish language in England was inevitably connected to the external politics of Tudor England and The Spanish Empire, starting with the union of Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon and culminating with the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada during the Anglo-Spanish War. Yet, the major interest of this project is the study of John Minsheu's 1599 bilingual English-Spanish dictionary from a lexicographic and contextual perspective. Likewise, this project sheds light on other exemplary works of the English-Spanish lexicography of the period.