Review
This much-admired classic of American slang, authored by noted antiquarian and bibliographer Bartlett in 1848, has appeared in more incarnations over the years than Elvis; it was released in four increasingly enlarged editions by the original author, translated into Dutch and German, and reprinted at least seven times. Most recently, it has been transcribed online at www.merrycoz. Org/BARTLETT.HTM. All this attention is certainly well deserved: this was, after all, the first dictionary of American slang ever published, and it took ten years to compile. Long out of print, the original edition has been repackaged for introduction to a new generation of language buffs. It is graced with an entertaining new foreword by language and humor author Richard Lederer that provides the needed historical context. The entries, which have been left intact, consist of definitions of a word or phrase and are often accompanied by a note or its region of origin and examples of its use. Skimming through the volume provides an instructive and sometimes amusing look at the colloquial world of 19th-century America. Readers can learn the definitions of current words and metaphors (e.g., "hubby," "cleavage," and "blow over"), the regional origins of still-current terms (e.g. "humble pie"), the popular names of native flora and fauna (e.g., "fool-ish"), and slang terms now lost to history (e.g., "absquatulate," "dubersome," and "abisselfa"). Although this slim volume cannot substitute for such comprehensive works as Mitford McLeod Mathews's unabridged A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles or the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, both of which cite this and other titles by Bartlett, it is nevertheless recommended for libraries that do not own the more comprehensive sources or want to supplement them. - Nadine Cohen-Baker, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens (
Library Journal, May 15, 2003)
From the Inside Flap
"BLUE STOCKING. A ridiculous epithet applied here as well as in England to literary ladies, and borrowed from that gallant nation the French. Called also simply a blue. . . .
"OLYCOKE. (Dutch, olikoek, oil-cake.) A cake fried in lard. A favorite delicacy with the Dutch, and also with their descendants, in New York. There are various kinds, as dough-nuts, crullers, etc. . . .
"TO SEE THE ELEPHANT is a South-western phrase, and means, generally, to undergo any disappointment of high-raised expectations. . . . For instance, men who have volunteered for the Mexican war, expecting to reap lots of glory and enjoyment, but instead have found only sickness, fatigue, privations, and suffering, are currently said to have ‘seen the elephant.’"
In 1848, these definitions–along with several thousand others–made their appearance in a revolutionary new lexicon of American slang: John Russell Bartlett’s now-classic Dictionary of Americanisms. A Rhode Island bookseller, politician, ethnographer, and all-around Yankee Renaissance man, Bartlett spent ten years on his Dictionary, compiling New England colloquialisms (to shoot one’s grandmother), borrowings from Native American languages (samp), Southernisms (huckleberry above the persimmon), political and business terms (Barnburners, bull and bear), New York Dutch words (smear-case), and new additions from the expanding Western frontier (to bark off squirrels, ranchero). The result is a glimpse into everyday life and language from the early decades of the republic, a dozen years before the Civil War.
Published to rave reviews, Bartlett’s book went through four editions, becoming a standard reference work in nineteenth-century America. Now with a new Foreword by bestselling word guru Richard Lederer, this facsimile edition of the 1848 original presents this classic piece of Americana–long out of print–to a new generation of history buffs and language mavens alike.
As Richard Lederer puts it, "the story of language in America is the story of our Declaration of Linguistic Independence, the separating from its parent of that glorious, uproarious, tremendous, stupendous, end-over-endous adventure we call American English." The Dictionary of Americanisms is a highly readable testament to that independence, and Bartlett’s anecdotes, quotes, and idiosyncratic definitions make for irresistible browsing. (Take a look at his entries for acknowledge the corn, Loco-foco, and Brother Jonathan, or the list of exotic nineteenth-century cocktails under liquor.) For anyone interested in America’s history, culture, or language, John Russell Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms is a remarkable rediscovery of a forgotten classic.
