The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases

In 1882 the University of Cambridge accepted a bequest of GBP5,000 from the writer John Frederick Stanford (1815-1880) for the purpose of creating a dictionary of loan words found in English. This volume, first published in 1892, was the result. Charles Augustus Fennell (1843-1916), a classicist and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge was responsible for selecting the words for inclusion. Following criteria based on Stanford’s own notes, the definition of ‘anglicised words’ is very broad, including words loaned from European languages which entered common use in English after 1470 as well as loans from further afield. Each entry includes the meaning of the word in its original language and historical examples of usage, showing how the meanings of anglicised words have changed subtly over time. The book reveals the dramatic expansion of English vocabulary that resulted from the adoption of these words.