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. Although the work is important in being the first collection of its kind, it is not a large work. At only 120 pages, it listed a total of 2,543 words accompanied by very brief (often single-word) definitions. In most cases, it was little more than a list of synonyms. The words chosen by Cawdrey might seem arbitrary and obscure, yet the purpose was for understanding uncommon words which were circulating due to the advent of the printing press, and the English language bible. The dictionary's claimed purpose was "for the benefit and help of unskillful persons". Within a few decades, many other English dictionaries followed. Source: Wikipedia (en)