Who defined oats as, essentially, a substance given English horses or food for Scotsmen?

Samuel Johnson
Dictionary of the English Language

Oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people.

That is the man, Georgia. Of course, he also defined an attic as the highest room in the house, and a garret as the room above the attic.

Only have the seventh edition here (1785). This goes straight from Inward and relate words e.g 'inwrought'(adorned with work), to Job "[a low word now much in use, of which I cannot tell the etymology] 1.Petty, piddling work; a piece of chance work..." so no Irish. Nor does he give Hibernian but gives the useful Hiccius doccius '... A cant word for a juggler; one that plays fast and loose' (He's good like that). He has no Scot (as in Scottish) either.

You never know; he may have stuck in a dig at the Irish but if so nobody seems to have noticed Johnson's assistants were mostly Scots; the temptation to dig at them must have been strong .

He does give English,solemnly: 'belonging to England, thence English is the language of England'.

Odd thing about attic DG; going back in the 1785 edition 'attic' cannot be found but he has 'garret' as ' a room on the highest floor of the house' Wonder if his editors had attic removed in later editions ?