European Day of Languages: John Ray's Trilingual Dictionary

The 26th September 2025 is European Day of Languages and we thought this a very opportune day to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of John Ray’s Nomenclator Classicus or Dictionariolum Trilingue or, in English, Trilingual Dictionary. This was a comparative dictionary between English, Latin and Greek.

John Ray developed this dictionary in order to teach Francis Willughby’s three children their languages and he first published it in 1675. At this time, the children, Francis, Cassandra and Thomas, were aged about seven, five and three respectively. It was written that Cassandra, by this time, was able to name and label, in all three of the languages of this Dictionary, all of plants found around Middleton Hall.

Cover of John Ray's Trilingual Dictionary. Photograph taken by Steve Davies.

Ray and Willughby were both interested in languages. However, it was Willughby who was especially interested in comparative linguistics. Ray was more interested in the differences within a language and how it was used, in particular, dialects and proverbs. Willughby is known to have studied or learned or was involved in creating comparative word lists for many languages including, but not limited to: Latin; Greek; Welsh; French; Italian; German; Walloon; Dutch; Hungarian; Croatian; Turkish; Persian; Provençal or Occitan; Spanish; and Biscayan, which is a dialect of the Basque language. Many of these word lists were created during the European Tour that Willughby, Ray, Philip Skippon and Nathaniel Bacon undertook in 1663. Part of one of the European word lists can be seen on a display board in the Francis Willughby Exhibition at Middleton Hall.

In the Trilingual Dictionary the words were classified not alphabetically but under themed headings. The headings were: the heavens; elements; stones and metals; parts of plants; herbaceous plants; trees and shrubs; parts of animals; four-footed animals; birds; fish; insects; parts of the human body; accidents of the body; diseases; meat; drink; apparel; buildings; God; Spirits; faculties of the soul; moral virtues and vices; kindred and affinity; household items; school; Church; husbandry; warfare; shipping or navigation; liberal arts; time; and numbers.

Ray stated that this book was intended purely to teach children in schools the correct terms in different languages and was a result of him having found copious errors in existing comparative texts, particularly in relation to natural history. Nevertheless, the format of this book is said to have proved to be a very useful base to enable word lists for other languages to be created alongside the languages Ray gave by other academics. One such person known to have done this was Edward Lhuyd F.R.S., who was a keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and a collaborator of Ray and Willughby. He is known to have translated the Trilingual Dictionary into Scottish Gaelic.

Further Reading: John Ray, Nomenclator Classicus sive Dictionariolum Trilingue, multiple editions.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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