{UAH} The first English Dictionary 1604 - 3000 words and mostly from Africa?

http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item102970.html

Intro

Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall, published in 1604, was the first single-language English dictionary ever published. It lists approximately 3000 words, defining each one with a simple and brief description. At this time the English language was expanding - influenced by trade, travel and new innovations in the fields of arts and sciences. The 'Table Alphabeticall' was an attempt to explain 'hard' words - i.e. those unfamiliar to the general public. In the preface to the dictionary Cawdrey criticises the poor standard of English spoken by people at the time: while some simplified their speech 'so that the most ignorant may well understand them' , others decorated their sentences with fancy phrases and complicated words, 'forgetting altogether their mothers language, so that if some of their mothers were alive, they were not able to tell or vnderstand what they say.' He writes of how 'far journied gentlemen' collect words on their travels and, coming home, 'pouder their talke with over-sea language.' Cawdrey wanted the English language to be better organised and felt his book might help the reader to understand challenging words.

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