Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

Produced by Geoffrey Cowling
with those Aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia
by Edward E. Morris M.A., Oxon.
Professor of English, French and German Languages and Literatures in the University of Melbourne.
1898
I. ORIGIN OF THE WORK First undertaken to help O.E.D. The Standard Dictionary
II. TITLE AND SCOPE OF THE BOOK Not a Slang Dictionary
III. SOURCES OF NEW WORDS:— 1. Altered English 2. Words quite new to the language:— (a) Aboriginal Australian (b) Maori
IV. THE LAW OF HOBSON-JOBSON Is Austral English a corruption?
X. ABBREVIATIONS:— 1. Of Scientific Names 2. General
About a generation ago Mr. Matthew Arnold twitted our nation with the fact that the journeyman work of literature was much better done in France—the books of reference, the biographical dictionaries, and the translations from the classics. He did not especially mention dictionaries of the language, because he was speaking in praise of academies, and, as far as France is concerned, the great achievement in that line is Littre and not the Academy's Dictionary. But the reproach has now been rolled away—<i>nous avons change tout cela</i>—and in every branch to which Arnold alluded our journeyman work is quite equal to anything in France.
It is generally allowed that a vast improvement has taken place in translations, whether prose or verse. From quarter to quarter the <i>Dictionary of National Biography</i> continues its stately progress. But the noblest monument of English scholarship is <i>The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles</i>, founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society, edited by Dr. James Murray, and published at the cost of the University of Oxford. The name <i>New</i> will, however, be unsuitable long before the Dictionary is out of date. Its right name is the <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> (`O.E.D.'). That great dictionary is built up out of quotations specially gathered for it from English books of all kinds and all periods; and Dr. Murray several years ago invited assistance from this end of the world for words and uses of words peculiar to Australasia, or to parts of it. In answer to his call I began to collect; but instances of words must be noted as one comes across them, and of course they do not occur in alphabetical order. The work took time, and when my parcel of quotations had grown into a considerable heap, it occurred to me that the collection, if a little further trouble were expended upon it, might first enjoy an independent existence. Various friends kindly contributed more quotations: and this Book is the result.