Walter Scott died (21/9/1832)

[Ross Clark]

Most often mentioned here (at least by me) as a lexical resurrectionist.
He picked up words from old books and manuscripts to lend colour and
verisimilitude to his historical novels. Sometimes these words had not
been in common use for centuries, leading to telltale gaps in the record
of attestations in OED.

But there's more: "He illustrated Scots dialogue with unprecedented
realism, and gave many words their first recorded usage (over 400 in the
Oxford English Dictionary -- bedazzled, cold shoulder, deferential,
hilarious, password, uptake...)."

Interesting. I'm always skeptical about such numbers, and I notice
Crystal carefully does not claim that Scott made up these words and
expressions. Still, I'm happy to learn that he was something of a
linguistic innovator as well as an antiquarian.

[Aidan Kehoe]

Most often mentioned here (at least by me) as a lexical resurrectionist. He
picked up words from old books and manuscripts to lend colour and
verisimilitude to his historical novels. Sometimes these words had not been
in common use for centuries, leading to telltale gaps in the record of
attestations in OED.
But there's more: "He illustrated Scots dialogue with unprecedented realism,
and gave many words their first recorded usage (over 400 in the Oxford
English Dictionary -- bedazzled, cold shoulder, deferential, hilarious,
password, uptake...)."
Interesting. I'm always skeptical about such numbers, and I notice Crystal
carefully does not claim that Scott made up these words and expressions.
Still, I'm happy to learn that he was something of a linguistic innovator as
well as an antiquarian.

There’s an awful lot of interest today in his English contemporaries (Byron,
Ada Lovelace, Jane Austen) and none in him. I should put him on my to-read
list, I understand he’s fairly easy reading.