Egeresugo Jisho Wage and Its Compilers

Abstract

Egeresugo Jisho Wage, Engelsch en Japansch Woordenboek, 1851-1854, is the second English and Japanese dictionary compiled in Japan. The compilers, Kichibe Nishi and Einosuke Moriyama and eight others, were the interpreters trained in Dutch, who had the government orders to study English and Russian languages besides Dutch and to compile such a dictionary. Based on John Holtrop's English and Dutch Dictionary, 1823, seven volumes consisting of four on A and three on B (up to the word“Brewis”) were completed and submitted to the govenment in four years up to November 1854, when the compilation had to be stopped because the interpreters became so busy with their primary professional work involved in one of the biggest events in the history of this country, the opening of Japan, that they could not have time to spare for the dictionary.
The seven volumes of this unfinished dictionary in manuscript remain in the Nagasaki Prefectural Library. The results of the analysis of these volumes as well as of the personal histories of its compilers given in this paper have revealed the deep significance of this dictionary and the compilers in the history of English teaching and learning in Japan.