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Remember too that the first modern truly extensive dictionary of English was not published until 1755, Samuel Johnson's dictionary. Earlier dictionaries were "Difficult Words Lists" or bilingual dictionaries till Johnson's dictionary. The 1604 Cawdrey word list was only a few thousand words. Until a reasonably complete dictionary was published spelling was flexible to put it mildly. The period before the Johnson dictionary was also a period of great growth of the English language vocabulary due to exploration and discoveries around the world as well as words adopted from other languages.
For readers, the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary complete edition claims to include all words post 1150 AD and about 7500 whose use predates that date if they continued in use after then.
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