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John Minsheu (también Mynsheu y Minshev) fue un industrioso lexicógrafo, gramático y profesor de idiomas en Londres y continuador de la obra de Richard Percyvall (¿1550? ¿1558?-1620). La mayoría de los datos sobre su vida provienen de los textos introductorios de sus obras, las cuales pueden clasificarse en dos grupos, a saber, el Dictionarie in Spanish and English, publicado en un mismo volumen con la Spanish Grammar y los Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English (1599, segunda edición en 1623), y su obra principal, el diccionario multilingüe The Guide into the Tongues (1617; segunda edición en 1625 con cambios, reimpresa en 1626 y 1627). Antes de establecerse en Londres como profesor de idiomas, se sabe que viajó, fue hecho prisionero y liberado gracias a la ayuda de mercaderes, pero se desconocen las fechas de sus viajes y los países que visitó; era un hombre leído y cultivado, pero pobre, casado y con hijos. Para 1625, su salud se había deteriorado; falleció en 1627 y fue enterrado en la parroquia de All Hallows, London Wall.

La gramática española de Minsheu está basada en la de Percyvall, con modificaciones y la adición de una sección de frases, proverbios y máximas extraídos de clásicos de la literatura universal; el diccionario, además, tiene el mérito de ser el primer repertorio bidireccional español-inglés e inglés-español en la historia de la filología hispánica. Minsheu no solo aumentó la parte español-inglés del diccionario de Percyvall a unas 25 300 entradas, sino que incluyó una parte inglés-español y una extensa lista de arabismos, primera muestra de su interés por la etimología. Cierra el volumen una colección de diálogos también bilingües que fueron muy populares y reimpresos, modificados y traducidos a otros idiomas hasta fines del siglo XVIII. Por su parte, The Guide into the Tongues es una obra monumental y de largo aliento publicada por Minsheu en 1617 después de veinte años de trabajo; se trata de un repertorio etimológico en once idiomas y con el lemario en inglés, el primero de su tipo, cuya primera edición contiene también un vocabulario en español, latín e inglés, el Most Copious Spanish Dictionarie, with Latine and English. Con esta obra, Minsheu introdujo el método de publicación por subscripción en Inglaterra y produjo una obra muy influyente tanto para la lexicografía española como para la inglesa.

Obra

• A Dictionarie in Spanish and English, First Published into the English Tongue by Ric. Perciuale Gent. Now Enlarged and Amplified with Many Thousand Words, as by this Marke * to Each of Them Prefixed May Appeere; Together with the Accenting of Every Worde throughout the Whole Dictionarie, for the True Pronunciation of the Language, as Also for the Divers Signification of One and the Selfsame Word. And for the Learners Ease and Furtherance, the Declining of All Hard and Irregular Verbs; and for the Same Cause the Former Order of the Alphabet Is Altered, Divers Hard and Uncouth Phrases and Speeches Out of Sundry of the Best Authors Explained, with Divers Necessarie Notes and Especiall Directions for All Such as Shall Be Desirous to Attaine the Perfection of the Spanish Tongue. All done by Iohn Minsheu Professor of Languages in London. Hereunto for the Further Profite and Pleasure of the Learner or Delighted in This Tongue, Is Annexed an Ample English Dictionarie, Alphabetically Set Downe with the Spanish Words Thereunto Adioyned, as Also an Alphabeticall Table of the Arabicke and Moorish Words Now Commonly Received and Used in the Spanish Tongue, Which Being Dispersed in Their Severall Due Places throughout the Whole Dictionarie Are Marked Thus † : By the Same Iohn Minsheu. For the Right Use of This Work, I Referre You to the Directions Before the Dictionarie, Contrived in Divers Points Differing from Other Dictionaries Heretofore Set Foorth, Edmund Bollifant, Londres, 1599.
• A Spanish Grammar, first collected and published by Richard Perciuale Gent. Now augmented and increased with the declining of all Irregular and hard verbes in that toong, with diuers other especiall Rules and necessarie Notes for all such as shall be desirous to attaine the perfection of the Spanish tongue. Done by John Minsheu, Professor of Languages in London. Hereunto for the yoong beginners learning and ease, are annexed Speeches, Phrases, and Prouerbes, expounded out of diuers Authors, setting downe the line and the lease where in the same bookes they shall finde them, whereby they may not onely vnderstand them, but by them vnderstand others, and the rest as they shall meete with them, Edmund Bollifant, Londres, 1599.
• Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English: Profitable to the Learner, and not vnpleasant to any other Reader. By John Minsheu Professor of Languages in London, Edmund Bollifant, Londres, 1599.
• The Guide into the Tongues. With Their Agreement and Consent One with Another, as Also their Etymologies, That Is, the Reasons and Derivations of All or the Most Part of Wordes, in These Eleven Languages, Viz. 1. English. 2. British or Welsh. 3. Low Dutch. 4. High Dutch. 5. French. 6. Italian. 7. Spanish. 8. Portugues. 9. Latine. 10. Greeke. 11. Hebrew, &c. Which Are So Laid Together (for the Help of Memory) That Any One With Ease and Facilitie, May Not Only Remember 4. 5. or More of the These Languages So Laid Together, but Also by Their Etymologies under the Name Know the Nature, Propertie, Condition, Matter, Forme, Fashion or End of Things There-under Contayned, Differing From All Other Dictionaries Ever Heretofore Set Forth. Also the Exposition of the Termes of the Lawes of This Land, Drawne from Their Originall the Saxon and Norman Tongues, with the Description of the Magistracies, Offices, and Officers, and Titles of Dignities, Noted with this Hand ( throughout the Whole Booke. A Worke for All Lovers of Any Kinde of Learning, Most Pleasant and Profitable, Especially for Those of Our Owne Nation, When by Order of the English Alphabet, They May Finde Out 10. Other Tongues, with Their Etymologies, Most Helpful to Memory, to Speake or Write, Then to Strangers, if They Will Draw Out of These One or More Language, and Place Them in Order of Alphabet and Table, and Referre Them by Figures into This Booke, as They Shall Best Like of. By the Industrie, Studie, Labour, and at the Charges of John Minsheu Published and Printed. Anno 1617, John Brownes, Londres, 1617.
• The Guide into the Tongues. With Their Agreement and Consent One with Another, as Also their Etymologies, That Is, the Reasons and Derivations of All or the Most Part of Wordes, in These Eleven Languages, Viz. 1. English. 2. Low Dutch. 3. High Dutch. 4. French. 5. Italian. 6. Spanish. 7. Latine. 8. Greeke. 9. Hebrew, &c. Which Are So Laid Together (for the Help of Memory) That Any One With Ease and Facilitie, May Not Only Remember 4. 5. or More of the These Languages So Laid Together, but Also By Their Etymologies Under the Name Know the Nature, Propertie, Condition, Matter, Forme, Fashion or End of Things There-under Contayned, Differing from All Other Dictionaries Ever Heretofore Set Forth. Also the Exposition of the Termes of the Lawes of This Land, Drawne from Their Originall the Saxon and Norman Tongues, with the Description of the Magistracies, Offices, and Officers, and Titles of Dignities, Noted with this Hand ( throughout the Whole Booke. Item, There Are Added The Etymologies of Proper Names of The Bible, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, &c. with the Etymologies of Countries, Cities, Townes, Hilles, Rivers, Flouds, Promontories, Ports, Creekes, Islands Seas, Men, Women, Gods, Peoples, and Other Things of Note, Which Are Marked with This Marke (†) Through the Whole Work. By the Industrie, Studie, Labour, and at the Charges of Iohn Minsheu Published and Printed, 22°. Iuly, Anno 1625. The Second Edition, John Haviland, Londres, 1625.

Bibliografía

• Alvar Ezquerra, Manuel, «Los diccionarios del español en su historia», International Journal of Lexicography, 8, nº 3, 1995, págs. 175-201.
• Alvar Ezquerra, Manuel, «El diccionario de Richard Percyvall», en De antiguos y nuevos diccionarios del español, Arco/Libros, Madrid, 2002, págs. 170-190.
• Cardim, Luis, Gramáticas anglo-castelhanas e castelhano-ánglicas (1586- 1828), Impresa da Universidade, Coimbra, 1931, págs. 10-11.
• Eccles, Mark, «Brief lives: Tudor and Stuart Authors», Studies in Philology, 79, nº 4 (otoño), 1982, págs. 1-135.
• Fernández, Heberto, Dictionaries and Vocabularies in Spanish and English from 1554 to 1740: Their Structure and Development, Vertere, Monográficos de la Revista Hermeneus Nº 12, Soria, Universidad de Valladolid, 2010, págs. 156-186 y 206-247.
• Gray, Douglas, «Minsheu, John», en Matthew, Henry Colin Gray y Brian Harrison (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. In Association with the British Academy. From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000, vol. 38, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004, págs. 362-363.
• Guerrero Ramos, Gloria y Fernando Pérez Lagos, «Estudio preliminar», en A Dictionarie in Spanish and English (London 1599), Iohn Minsheu, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, 2000, págs. 5-22.
• Noland, Daniel W., «The Sources and Methods of John Minsheu’s A Dictionary of Spanish and English (1599)», Dictionaries, nº 11, 1989, págs. 41-52.
• Redondo Rodríguez, Mª Jesús, «John Minsheu, ¿multiplagiario, innovador o difusor de fantasmas léxicos?», en Javier Rodríguez Molina y Daniel M. Sáez Rivera, Diacronía, lengua española y lingüística. Actas del IV Congreso Nacional de la Asociación de Jóvenes Investigadores de Historiografía e Historia de la Lengua Española (Madrid, 1, 2 y 3 de abril de 2004), Síntesis, Madrid, 2006, págs. 427-438.
• Rosier, James L., «The Sources and Methods of Minsheu’s Guide into the Tongues», Philological Quaterly, 40-1, 1961, págs. 68-76.
• Salmon, Vivian, «Some Notes on the Life and Work of John Minsheu (1560-1627)», Historiographia Linguistica, 30, nº 3, 2003, págs. 259-72.
• Sánchez, Aquilino, «El foco británico: De A. del Corro a J. Sanford», en José J. Gómez Asencio (dir.), El castellano y su codificación gramatical, vol. I, De 1492 (A. de Nebrija) a 1611 (John Sanford), Instituto Castellano y Leonés de la Lengua, Burgos, 2006, págs. 255-300, y en concreto las págs. 281-277.
• Schäfer, Jürgen, «Introduction», John Minsheu. Ductor in Linguas (The Guide into the Tongues) and Vocabularium Hispanicolatinum (A Most Copious Spanish Dictionarie), Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, Delmar, New York, 1978, págs. V-XX.
• Schäfer, Jürgen, «John Minsheu: Scholar or Charlatan?», Renaissance Quaterly, 26-1, 1973, págs. 23-35.
• Ungerer, Gustav, «The Printing of Spanish Books in Elizabethan England», The Library. A Quarterly Journal of Bibliography, 20, nº 1 (marzo), 1965, págs. 177-229.

Heberto Fernández