HOW words have changed. Back in 1755, when Dr Samuel Johnson wrote the first Dictionary Of The English Language, a fireman wasn't a heroic person in a funny hat, but someone who was prone to sudden passions.

A recipe had nothing to do with preparing food - it was a medical prescription. And a urinator - no, it wasn't the word for a yob who's been out on the lash, had too many to drink, and feels the need to relieve himself in the street on the way home.

It simply meant a diver (the kind who searches for things underwater, not the football-playing variety).

Two hundred and fifty years is a long time, so we would expect the language to have changed.

More surprising is how little it has done so. For which we probably have the great man himself to thank as much as anyone.

The first edition of Johnson's dictionary - published 250 years ago yesterday - was a cumbersome 2,300 page volume containing 42,773 words.

Henry Hitchings says it was far from perfect. There were mistakes, omissions and some obscure language. How about this for a definition of a cough: "a convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity".

Even worse, Johnson's prejudices often got in the way of definitions (he had a real downer, apparently, on the Scots).

Nevertheless, the overall quality and rigour of Johnson's definitions and the systematic way he went about his work has set the tone for dictionaries to the present day. For which we owe him thanks.

Updated: 08:54 Saturday, April 16, 2005