Table Alphabeticall

A Table Alphabeticall is the abbreviated title of the first monolingual dictionary in the English language, created by Robert Cawdrey and first published in London in 1604.

The full title of A Table Alphabeticall is "A Table Alphabeticall, containing and teaching the true writing, and vnderſtanding(understanding) of hard uſuall(usual) Engliſh(English) words, borrowed from the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French, &c. With the interpretation thereof by plain writing acts and Engliſh(English) words, gathered for the benefit and help of ladies, gentlewomen, or any other vnskilfull(unskillful) persons.

Whereby that they may speak more eaſily easily and fluently, have a better vnderſtand (understanding) many hard Engliſh(English) words, vvhich(which) they ſhall(shall) hear or read in Scripture, Sermons, or elſe(else) vvhere,(where) and alſo(also) be made able to vſe(use) at the same aptitude themſelues.

and newly corrected, and much inlarged with many words now in use" and includes the inscription "Legere, et non intelligere, neglegere est" ("To read, and to not understand, is to neglect").

"To set Cawdrey's slim small volume of 1604 beside the completed Oxford Dictionary of 1933 is like placing the original acorn beside the oak that has grown out of it.